I am Robin Seiwert

Childhood in France

A new country at the age of five

I came to France at the age of five without speaking a word of French, and at primary school I initially stood alone on the sidelines during breaks. Instead of hiding, I listened and learned, day after day. After a week I could ask the other children whether I could join in, and half a year later I spoke fluent French. This early experience gave me something that stays with me to this day: You grow into situations that seem too big for you at first.

Camino de Santiago at 15

800 kilometres across northern Spain

At 15, I made a decision that only a few of my classmates could understand at the time: I packed my rucksack and walked alone for four weeks, 800 kilometres from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. What has stayed with me is not pride in the distance. It is the calm that comes when you realise: I can rely on myself. When I came back, nobody was interested in what I had experienced. That disappointed me at first, until I understood that the value of those weeks does not depend on whether others see it.

Baccalauréat / Abitur

Focus on mathematics & economics

I took my school-leaving exams bilingually at the Lycée franco-allemand, with mathematics and economics as my main subjects. Of all things, I failed precisely these two subjects in the exam and only just scraped through in the end. “You can forget about university,” I was told at the time. That sentence hit me, but it did not stop me: years later I successfully completed two demanding degrees, including a degree in economics that consisted largely of exactly the subjects that had almost cost me my school-leaving certificate.

Founded at 19

My first limited company

At 19, I founded my first company. At 20, my own limited company had Daimler AG as a client and I was jointly responsible for the market launch of the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class in south-west Germany. But then everything tipped over: at 22 the company was insolvent and I was personally deeply in debt. Personal bankruptcy would have been the easy way out, but it was out of the question for me. Over many years I paid back every single euro. That time was hard, but it taught me everything about responsibility.

Degree (B.Sc.) in Economics

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU)

After hearing “You can forget about university”, I did exactly what my teachers back then had not believed me capable of: I studied economics at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and graduated. I wrote my thesis under Prof. Dr. Clemens Fuest, President of the ifo Institute. What stayed with me from that time is less the specialist knowledge than a way of thinking: seeing connections and calmly working through even complex topics. That still helps me today wherever a clear head is needed.

Manager at PITERION Group

Working full time alongside my economics degree

I completed my economics degree full time and worked mostly full time alongside it. I had no choice: I had to finance my studies and at the same time start paying back my debts. Those years demanded discipline and stamina from me. I am still very grateful to PITERION (now part of Capgemini), especially to the leadership team at the time, whose trust and support I could always count on.

Amateur footballer at TSV 1860 Munich

Balancing a triple workload

Alongside my studies, work and paying back my debts, I deliberately looked for sporting challenges because I needed a balance to get through this triple workload. I started the Strongmanrun three times and got to know and love the Munich Lions. I started on the bench, but quickly fought my way into the starting line-up and in the end was allowed to lead the team onto the pitch as captain. I was never the most technically gifted player, but everyone could rely on one thing: I never stopped running and fighting for the team, even when nothing was working any more. That has stayed with me to this day.

Manager and authorised signatory (ppa.) at Ernst & Young (EY)

A career in consulting

After my studies, I started at the very bottom as a junior consultant and worked my way up over more than five years to manager and authorised signatory (ppa.) in strategy and transaction advisory. Client projects in the automotive sector took me halfway around the world: from Shanghai and Dubai to Moscow and Atlanta. For me, that time was a formative school, especially when it came to pressure, responsibility and composure. I was also able to build a large network, which proved very valuable, particularly when I later moved into industry.

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Management & Business Strategy

In the middle of my most intense phase as a manager and authorised signatory, I decided to study once more: a part-time MBA in Management & Business Strategy. Managing a full-time job and studies in parallel was exhausting, but looking back, the decision was one of the most rewarding of my career so far. Here too I was able to expand my network: a circle of leaders from a wide range of industries, from which some very good friendships have grown.

Spokesperson of the Young Leadership Board

Committed to composed leadership

Alongside day-to-day consulting work, one topic was particularly close to my heart: composed leadership. For me, that means staying clear and calm even under pressure, taking responsibility without passing it down, and leading people in a way that helps them grow beyond themselves. For me, composure does not come from hierarchy. It comes from attitude and reliability. I did not just want to live this understanding, I wanted to pass it on: I was first elected to the EY Young Leadership Board as a board member and eventually appointed its spokesperson. The topic of “composed leadership” still drives me today.

Semester abroad in California

University of San Diego, California

Part of my MBA took me to California, to the University of San Diego and the Knauss School of Business. Whenever I could, I went surfing in the Pacific before and after lectures. This mix of high standards and freedom changed my view of work and life for good. On the West Coast I also came across many unconventional approaches that I pass on today in my talks, leadership trainings and 1:1 mentoring.

Strategy & Project Manager at Tesla

At the interface of strategy and execution

At Tesla I experienced an environment of high speed and high standards. I was responsible for leading negotiations with stakeholders from industry, the energy sector and the public sector to develop and implement strategic infrastructure projects in the DACH region. My focus was on scalability, profitability and long-term value creation. During this time I also spoke at a number of conferences and was in exchange with Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, among others.

Opening of the LAMOUR Crêperie

A passion project in the heart of Berlin

LAMOUR is my passion project. In September 2024, together with my sister Joline, I opened a crêperie in Prenzlauer Berg and fulfilled a family dream, even though I had never worked in hospitality before. After years in consulting and corporate life, I no longer wanted to work only on strategies. I wanted to work on something real: a place where people love to come together. That is exactly what makes LAMOUR so special to me: it combines entrepreneurial courage with genuine joy of life.

Speaker, Trainer & Mentor

Feldafing on Lake Starnberg

From all my milestones, the highs as well as the falls, a conviction has grown that I pass on today as a speaker, trainer and mentor: composure can be learned. In my talks and trainings I speak about what I have lived through myself: about failing and getting back up, about leadership, pressure and the importance of staying true to yourself when things get difficult. I do not tell polished success stories. I tell real ones, with all their cracks. That is exactly what makes these stories relatable for the people who listen to me. On social media I now reach millions of people every month.

My first book: “Die Türen, die wir wählen”

Published on 22 February 2027 by Goldegg Verlag (in German)

On 22 February 2027, Goldegg Verlag will publish my first book “Die Türen, die wir wählen” (The doors we choose: why a single decision can give your life a new direction), and you can already pre-order it now. I worked on it for months, and I am delighted that it will soon be on bookshop shelves. It is about the decisions that do not feel like decisions at all, because they happen in half a sentence, in a nod or in the moment when we stay silent or give in. It is in exactly these moments that we stand in front of several doors, and the one we choose gives our life a direction. The big decisions determine what your life looks like. The small ones determine whether it is still yours. In ten true stories I tell of people whose lives take a new direction at such inconspicuous turning points, and I show why some decisions carry us for a lifetime.

Pre-order now

Thalia Hugendubel Amazon

More about the book · Paperback, Goldegg Verlag, 22,00 €, ISBN 978-3-99060-614-8