Back to our people page Back to Locations Back to Back to Article

Wilhelm Lerner

Partner

Head, Strategy & Organization Practice / Consumer Goods & Retail Practice, Central Europe

Germany

Wilhelm links 25+ years expertise in strategy, organization and marketing & sales excellence with broad cross-sector experience to help clients accelerate growth and transformation.

Areas of Focus

Education

University of San Francisco
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
University Geisenheim
Engineer for Winemaking and Viticulture

Wilhelm is a Partner in Arthur D. Little’s Frankfurt office. His work focuses on strategy & organization development as well as marketing, customer and sales excellence to accelerate growth and transformation on a corporate and business-unit level. Wilhelm heads both our Strategy & Organization and Consumer Goods & Retail practices in Central Europe.

Since joining Arthur D. Little in 1989 after his studies, Wilhelm has served cross-sector clients with a focus on the consumer, construction and manufacturing industries.  

Wilhelm is passionate about helping clients build game-changing strategies in a decade of disruption, as well as identify sustainable sources of competitive advantage to win the hypercompetition battle. He accompanies his clients with the same energy to build dynamic organization capabilities and deliver high-impact, fast-track transformation. 

Lost in translation
Michael Majster, Abhishek Srivastava, Fabian Sempf
Despite two decades of accumulated experience, the majority of digital transformations still fail to meet expectations. The root causes typically relate to the often-difficult relationship between business and IT functions, resulting in the original strategic aims getting “lost in translation” during execution. In this Viewpoint, we explore how setting up a value office can help overcome common problems by tracking defined value and ensuring realization — leading to successful execution of the strategy.
Find out more
Insight: Organizational detoxing
Insight: Organizational detoxing
Marten Zieris, Wilhelm Lerner
ORGANIZATIONAL DETOXING TO ANSWER COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTS The momentum of change is accelerating and is transforming markets, ecosystems, and organizations. Whether you call it VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous), RUPT (rapid, unpredictable, paradoxical, tangled), or something else, the world around us is becoming increasingly complex in an accelerating manner.
Find out more
The Future of Urban Mobility
Wilhelm Lerner
Executive summary Management consultancy Arthur D. Little’s (ADL) new global study of urban mobility assesses the mobility maturity and performance of 66 cities worldwide and finds most not just falling well short of best practice but in a state of crisis. Indeed it is not putting it too stron­gly to say that many cities’ mobility systems are standing on a burning platform and if action is not taken in the very near future they will play a major role in slowing the growth and development of their host nations.
Find out more
Ambidextrous Organizations – Build sustainable organizational advantage
Wilhelm Lerner, Marten Zieris
Today’s competitive and highly volatile environment calls for a new kind of flexibility that is not covered by conventional organizational wisdom. Corporate strategies specifically address implications of changing customer requirements, market developments, digitalization, etc., but most often lack tangible guidance on the organizational capabilities needed to address these challenges.
Find out more
Travel & transportation
Integrierte Logistikdienstleister unter Druck
Ralf Baron, Michael Zintel, Wilhelm Lerner
Wie lange dauert es, bis Managemententscheidungen an der Basis Ihres Unternehmens angekommen sind? Wir meinen hier nicht die einmalige „Chefentscheidung“ – denn die funktioniert meistens. Oftmals entfalten Maßnahmen zur nachhaltigen Steigerung der Profitabilität nicht die gewünschte Wirkung oder Projekte zum Customer Relationship Management kommen nicht an der Kundenschnittstelle an; die Lenkungsimpulse verfehlen ihr Ziel. Verkürzt kann man hier über eine „Governance Schwäche“ reden.
Find out more
Construction Trade Convergence
Wilhelm Lerner
The trend towards energy efficiency, “green building” solutions, renovation or value-added services, means that previously distinct construction trades and value chain structures are beginning to converge. Established construction companies, material suppliers or technical building equipment providers: who will win the race to gain most of future market share? Is it time now for forward looking entrepreneurs to start innovating their business to outcompete their peers?
Find out more
Ambidextrous organizations – How to embrace disruption and create organizational advantage
Wilhelm Lerner, Marten Zieris
In competitive markets businesses need to embrace two sets of capabilities that are often seen as complete opposites – they have to be fast & creative, while also being productive & scale driven. This article explores how businesses can become truly ambidextrous, providing an outline model that helps to create the right balance within the organization.
Find out more

Wilhelm is a Partner in Arthur D. Little’s Frankfurt office. His work focuses on strategy & organization development as well as marketing, customer and sales excellence to accelerate growth and transformation on a corporate and business-unit level. Wilhelm heads both our Strategy & Organization and Consumer Goods & Retail practices in Central Europe.

Since joining Arthur D. Little in 1989 after his studies, Wilhelm has served cross-sector clients with a focus on the consumer, construction and manufacturing industries.  

Wilhelm is passionate about helping clients build game-changing strategies in a decade of disruption, as well as identify sustainable sources of competitive advantage to win the hypercompetition battle. He accompanies his clients with the same energy to build dynamic organization capabilities and deliver high-impact, fast-track transformation. 

Lost in translation
Michael Majster, Abhishek Srivastava, Fabian Sempf
Despite two decades of accumulated experience, the majority of digital transformations still fail to meet expectations. The root causes typically relate to the often-difficult relationship between business and IT functions, resulting in the original strategic aims getting “lost in translation” during execution. In this Viewpoint, we explore how setting up a value office can help overcome common problems by tracking defined value and ensuring realization — leading to successful execution of the strategy.
Find out more
Insight: Organizational detoxing
Insight: Organizational detoxing
Marten Zieris, Wilhelm Lerner
ORGANIZATIONAL DETOXING TO ANSWER COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTS The momentum of change is accelerating and is transforming markets, ecosystems, and organizations. Whether you call it VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous), RUPT (rapid, unpredictable, paradoxical, tangled), or something else, the world around us is becoming increasingly complex in an accelerating manner.
Find out more
The Future of Urban Mobility
Wilhelm Lerner
Executive summary Management consultancy Arthur D. Little’s (ADL) new global study of urban mobility assesses the mobility maturity and performance of 66 cities worldwide and finds most not just falling well short of best practice but in a state of crisis. Indeed it is not putting it too stron­gly to say that many cities’ mobility systems are standing on a burning platform and if action is not taken in the very near future they will play a major role in slowing the growth and development of their host nations.
Find out more
Ambidextrous Organizations – Build sustainable organizational advantage
Wilhelm Lerner, Marten Zieris
Today’s competitive and highly volatile environment calls for a new kind of flexibility that is not covered by conventional organizational wisdom. Corporate strategies specifically address implications of changing customer requirements, market developments, digitalization, etc., but most often lack tangible guidance on the organizational capabilities needed to address these challenges.
Find out more
Travel & transportation
Integrierte Logistikdienstleister unter Druck
Ralf Baron, Michael Zintel, Wilhelm Lerner
Wie lange dauert es, bis Managemententscheidungen an der Basis Ihres Unternehmens angekommen sind? Wir meinen hier nicht die einmalige „Chefentscheidung“ – denn die funktioniert meistens. Oftmals entfalten Maßnahmen zur nachhaltigen Steigerung der Profitabilität nicht die gewünschte Wirkung oder Projekte zum Customer Relationship Management kommen nicht an der Kundenschnittstelle an; die Lenkungsimpulse verfehlen ihr Ziel. Verkürzt kann man hier über eine „Governance Schwäche“ reden.
Find out more
Construction Trade Convergence
Wilhelm Lerner
The trend towards energy efficiency, “green building” solutions, renovation or value-added services, means that previously distinct construction trades and value chain structures are beginning to converge. Established construction companies, material suppliers or technical building equipment providers: who will win the race to gain most of future market share? Is it time now for forward looking entrepreneurs to start innovating their business to outcompete their peers?
Find out more
Ambidextrous organizations – How to embrace disruption and create organizational advantage
Wilhelm Lerner, Marten Zieris
In competitive markets businesses need to embrace two sets of capabilities that are often seen as complete opposites – they have to be fast & creative, while also being productive & scale driven. This article explores how businesses can become truly ambidextrous, providing an outline model that helps to create the right balance within the organization.
Find out more

More About Wilhelm
  • University of San Francisco
    Master of Business Administration (MBA)
  • University Geisenheim
    Engineer for Winemaking and Viticulture