Meet Matthias

Prof. Matthias Ehrhardt
Founder & CEO, Autoris

Professor and Facilitator | Executive Coach and Advisor | Journalist and Author | Entrepreneur

Coach and Advisor

Over the past 20+ years, Matthias has worked with individuals, startups, venture capital and private equity firms, family businesses, NGOs, and global corporations such as Microsoft, MunichRe, Samsung Next, Daimler, and KPMG.

Matthias is a trusted advisor and coach to numerous founders, top executives, VC and PE firms, entrepreneurs, and business families. Among his clients are several unicorns (startups valued at more than $1 billion USD) and founders Matthias coached and helped navigate through their successful exits.

CoachX at IOC, Harvard Medical School

Matthias presents the ABCDE of Narrative, a framework he has developed to help leaders leverage the power of storytelling.

LGT Family Forum

Matthias explains Autoris' signature ACE it! Method at the highly prestigious LGT Family Forum to foster motivation, family cohesion, and a strength-based mindset in families and organizations.

Harvard Faculty Club, Cambridge MA

Harvard Faculty Club, Cambridge MA

At an Innovation Week, Matthias introduces Prof. Arthur Brooks, one of the world's most esteemed researchers on the topic of happiness, who is giving a talk on "Leadership and Happiness".

Professor and Speaker

Matthias frequently runs workshops, gives talks, and teaches in executive education programs around the world. His engaging and interactive sessions consistently receive rave reviews. Matthias is engaged in training and supervising other coaches and facilitators. For examples, he teaches in IESE’s Business School’s Executive Coaching program and regularly speaks at conferences on leadership, talent development and coaching such as at the Columbia University Coaching Conference.

YPO Summit, Barcelona

YPO Summit, Barcelona

Matthias speaks at the YPO Leadership Summit about empowering the next generation in family businesses.

Harvard OPM, New Delhi

Harvard OPM, New Delhi

After a speech at the Harvard Owners and Presidents Management Program (OPM) reunion in New Delhi.

Microsoft for Startups, Berlin

Microsoft for Startups, Berlin

Matthias at one of his highly interactive and engaging workshops at Microsoft for Startups for 120 founders in Berlin.

Strathmore Business School (SBS), Nairobi, Kenya

Matthias is conducting a leadership masterclass at Strathmore Business School in Nairobi, Kenya, where he will present Autoris' signature ACE it! Method.

Leadership Masterclass in Kinshasa, DR Congo

Graduates of the Leadership Masterclass "Successful Leader: Simply ACE it!", a two-day leadership workshop that Matthias runs in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Cultural Compass

The Cultural Compass

Matthias explains the Cultural Compass, one of Autoris' signature assessments designed to measure and optimize team culture.

Journalist and Author

Matthias has been passionate about journalism and writing from a young age. While still in school, he founded the first French-German student newspaper and began his journalism career in the late 1980s. In 1999, he established Autoris, initially as a press agency. He is the author of several books and numerous articles for well-known newspapers and journals.

His publications include 'Stories are Bridges From One Mind To Another' presented at the Columbia Coaching Conference in 2016, the 'ABC of Narrative' in 2017—a model for applying narrative theory in executive coaching introduced at the CoachX series by the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School—and more recently, 'The Designing Talent Handbook' (2022) and 'The ACE it! Master Certification Handbook' (2024).

Millstatt Business Talks

The Millstatt Business Talks are a premier networking event in Austria, bringing together leaders from business and politics. Here, Matthias is running an interactive session with 350 participants.

Catalyzing Growth Workshop at IESE in Barcelona

Matthias is running a workshop on "Catalyzing and Spurring Growth" in a fast-paced environment for members of the Family Business Club at IESE, one of the world's leading business schools.

Success and Sustainability

Success and Sustainability

What's the most important factor for successful sustainability? It's people. That's the key message of this workshop which was part of the Millstadt Business Talks.

Academic background

Matthias has always had a strong interest in learning and talent development. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School's Owners and Presidents Management Program (OPM), IESE Business School's Advanced Management program (AMP), IESE's International Faculty Program (IFP), the Columbia Coaching Certification Program (ECI/ACI), and Columbia Business School's CIBE Program.

Matthias holds a master of administration studies and political science (M.A.S.) from the University of Constance, a master in media psychology (M.A.) from the Massachusetts Schools of Professional Psychology, a Ph.D. in law (Dr. iur.), and another Ph.D. in art history (Dr. phil.) from the University of Munich.

He has served as the academic paper at the Columbia University Coaching Conference, and is a founding fellow of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate.

Matthias has studied and worked in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and the U.S. He lives in Boston, MA.

Training other coaches at IESE Business School

Training other coaches at IESE Business School

Matthias teaches a course on "Innovations in Coaching" at IESE Business School's highly regarded Leadership Coaching Program (LCP).

Researcher and Writer

Researcher and Writer

Matthias has always harbored a deep passion for research and writing. Beginning his career as a journalist in the late 1980s, he went on to found Autoris in 1999, initially establishing it as a press agency.

Interview Partner

Interview Partner

Matthias frequently serves as an interview and podcast partner on all things leadership, coaching, and talent development.

Get in touch

Prof. Dr. Dr. Matthias Ehrhardt
Autoris Institute
Harvard Square, 1 Mifflin Place
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
[email protected]