In your work at the intersection of business and politics, what do you see as the most urgent barrier to embedding sustainability into long-term corporate strategy?

One of the most urgent barriers to embedding sustainability into long-term corporate strategy is the inertia of large, tradition-rich industries such as the German automotive sector While there is a clear understanding of importance of sustainability, these companies ofte operate within deeply entrenched business models, supply chain structures and a strong focus on cost optimization. Decision making ca be slowed by complex governance layers and the constant balancing act between shareholder expectations and environmental commitments. On the political side, regulatory frameworks – for example the EU’s evolving climate and circular economy legislation – are often ambitious but can also be fragmented or inconsistent in their implementation timelines. This creates uncertainty for long-term investment planning. The challenge is not a lack of vision, but the difficulty aligning short-term financial imperatives, internal transformation processes and shifting policy requirements into coherent, forward looking strategy – and doing so quickly enough to remain competitive in a global very fast moving market.

How can organizations move from performative diversity initiatives to real structural change in leadership and staff representation?

My advice: Stop treating diversity as a branding exercise and start treating it as a business-critical transformation. That means changing who makes decisions, not just who’s in the marketing photos. Tie leadership incentives directly to measurable diversity outcomes. Remove structural barriers in recruitment and promotion and accept that real change will be uncomfortable – especially for those who have long benefited from the status quo. If diversity is embedded in power structures and not just in HR programs, it will be performative.

What’s one unexpected habit or mindset from your career that you now consider essential — even if it seemed small at first?

I used to think the fastest way to make things change was to charge ahead with big ideas and energy. Early in my career especially in large, traditional organizations I often found myself outpacing the system – and in environments with endless layers of multiple teams – that just mens you end up running alone Over time I learned that the real skill is to slow down, map the processes and identify where those are, who decide. In big corporations it is rarely about convinging everyone at once; it’s about building the right coalitions, one step by time. It feels less dramatic than a big launch, but it’s far more effective – because your ideas don’t just make noise, they survive the system an actually take root.