Meet your coach: Axel Rittershaus

Axel knows that success is the result of hard work and determination even more than innate talent. A master of maintaining focus and follow-through, Axel supports leaders and managers in achieving goals. He targets actionable objectives that produce immediate insights and accelerates concrete accomplishment. Axel is dedicated and passionate to see clients succeed beyond their expectations.

His years of real-world business experience reinforce his coaching and consulting practice —Axel’s collaborative approach spurs self-sustaining action while requiring accountability. Persistence is one of Axel’s hallmarks; clients describe him as “eternally upbeat”, commenting on his professionalism and reliability. His humor and enthusiastic optimism quickly create a safe space for senior leaders to adjust behavior, spearhead change, or maintain successful drives. Ever target-oriented, Axel does not shun difficult truths and will honestly deliver practical advice leaders need to get the results they seek.

Professional Experience

Axel brings 16 years of real-world business experience as an IT Entrepreneur in Germany into his work as an advisor, crisis manager and executive coach. As a dynamic entrepreneur in Europe, Axel understands what it takes to move businesses forward from start-up, through established growth to profitable sale. His years of leadership in the information and communication technology industry (1993 – 2008) initiated valuable insights that technical skill and analytical competence need the combination of effective communication, intentional leadership, self-discipline, and time management to flourish in business. After selling his company, he worked as a Senior Manager for Accenture and Member of the board at a mid-size IT service provider in Germany.

He’s been a founding member of Bitkom, member of the board and head of the prestigious working group eGovernment at Bitkom.

As an international executive coach and leadership development facilitator since 2008, Axel Rittershaus has assisted senior leaders as well as young executives across industries and from more than 30 countries.

He coaches executives on board- (several CEOs in Europe, India, China, Africa) and senior-level executives in all topics related to leadership and strategy.

He works with boards and business leaders in defining business strategies for the future leveraging digitization, AI and automation – and how to lead their organization into this future.

Axel is the advisor of executives in multiple industries, consulting and advising on strategic tasks from crisis management to growth strategies. He doesn’t shy away from getting into the trenches to identify the root causes for trouble or find the hidden gems in teams, companies, and organizations.

During one of his most recent assignments, he assisted the board of a service organization to in managing a company-wide turnaround and reorganization project. He set up an internal change process, supported the change managers, and gave valuable, actionable advice on how to get through the change as fast and safe as possible.

Although he is not involved in IT-development any more, he knows and understands the chances and challenges of today’s IT projects in a complex world – from agile to cloud-based computing, from AI to automation.

His leadership programs are sought-after, like his program for 300 top talents, facilitated at 11 different locations (8x Europe, China, Hong Kong, Singapore), or a 5-module program for the top 150 senior leaders for one of the largest global retail organisations. Axel supports the continuous process of defining, re-defining and living the companies’ values and leadership principles for many of his long-term clients.

Axel Rittershaus created the most successful OKR 101 online course to date