Tim Leberecht is a German-American entrepreneur, consultant, author, and speaker, recognized as a highly insightful and passionate thought leader advocating for a more human-centered economy amid digitalisation, automation, and sustainability challenges.
He is the founder and CEO of the House of Beautiful Business, a global network that connects technology, management, science, and art with the goal of creating positive future visions for business and society. Previously, Leberecht served as Chief Marketing Officer at NBBJ, a global architecture and design firm. From 2006 to 2013, he held the same role at Frog Design in San Francisco, a design and innovation agency renowned for its collaborations with Apple.
Tim Leberecht authored the international bestseller ‘Business Romantic: The Quest for a Different Kind of Economy.’ His two TED Talks have attracted over 3 million views. His second book, ‘Against the Dictatorship of Winners,’ was released in 2020.
Tim Leberecht lecture topics
- Digital must be beautiful: romance instead of algorithms?
Tim Leberecht challenges the Silicon Valley approach of data-driven reductionism by presenting the concept of beautiful business. As machines become more efficient at performing necessary tasks, the most vital human work will be that which is done beautifully—infused with intuition, creativity, and commitment. Aesthetics, ethics, and emotions will be the key differentiators in the future economy shaped by AI and automation, helping us maintain our humanity.
- Be careful not to forget to feel: the new romantic revolution
In his acclaimed bestseller Business Romantic, Tim Leberecht promotes a fundamentally different perspective on the economy and redefines success. He argues that business is more than rational choices and self-interest. In response to pervasive datafication and quantification that lead to disenchantment, he calls for a romantic counter-movement emphasizing subjective, emotional truth. Leberecht broadens economic life by incorporating romantic elements such as intimacy over transactions, mystery over clarity, vulnerability over control, surprise over predictability, character over efficiency, devotion over facts, and meaning over instant gratification. His ‘3 Rules for Business Romantics’ offer practical methods to make workplace experiences and interactions with brands and products more romantic.
- Against the dictatorship of winners: How we can lose without being losers
The prevailing belief that winning is essential in business, life, and customer relations remains unchallenged, with losing often stigmatized as failure. Tim Leberecht views this as an opportunity, asserting that a humane society allows people to lose without being labeled losers. He identifies various forms of losing and outlines strategies for constructively handling defeat and loss. These include reimagining social welfare, creating space for negative experiences at work, and embracing rituals and personal sacrifice. His analysis offers a sharp critique of digital society, breaks taboos by valuing vulnerability as strength, and envisions a humane society that embraces good losers.
- The end times: The three taboo breaks we need now
Addressing the crises of climate, democracy, and health, Tim Leberecht highlights the consequences of prioritizing growth and profits at any cost. While digitalisation is efficient, it often lacks beauty. Human-centered business, though well-meaning, can be arrogant. He argues that breaking three taboos—valuing beauty over efficiency, accepting losing instead of winning at all costs, and embracing spirituality over humanism—is essential for a better, more humane future.
- Emotional diversity: Why we all need feelings in the workplace
Tim Leberecht challenges the dominance of positive emotions such as optimism, joy, and happiness by advocating for the full range of emotions, including complex ones. He emphasizes that a truly human workplace is not one that constantly makes us happy but one that permits sadness. In this talk, he explains how to foster such a corporate culture and how leaders can embody it.
Responding to the rapid advancement of technologies promoted by Silicon Valley, Leberecht calls for a new sentimental education to prepare for hybrid collaboration with AI and nature, along with the emotional experiences these bring. Instead of promoting ‘fail fast’ and error culture, he encourages honest reflection on the impacts of digital disruption, especially the loss of status, control, and clarity. His vision is a profound transformation focused not only on efficiency and optimization but also on radically redefining value creation toward a humane and ecological society.
Born and raised in Germany, Tim Leberecht returned to Berlin in 2017 after spending fourteen years in Silicon Valley. Since August 2021, he has been residing in Lisbon and Atlanta.
