Keynote SpeakerJens Weidner

Jens Weidner has been Professor of Education & Criminology at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences at the Faculty of Economic and Social Affairs since 1995.

After studying social sciences with an emphasis pn criminology in Lüneburg, Tübingen and Philadelphia, Weidner started working with gang members from New York, Washington and Philadelphia at Glen Mills School, USA.

From 1987-95, he developed Anti-Aggression Training for violent repeat offenders and used it at the youth prison Hameln in Germany. In 1991, he received his PhD in Anti-Aggression Training for violent offenders.

From 1993-2000 Weidner worked on the development and implementation of certified training for anti-aggressiveness and as coolness coach at the Institute for Social Work and Social Education in Frankfurt.

Since 1994 he has been a management trainer at the Swiss Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute for Economic & Society in Zurich teaaching Assertiveness for managers. He also offers anger management seminars and service management training in collaboration with the theatre and television actor Lutz Herkenrath. In 2005 he became co-owner of the German Institute for Confrontational Pedagogy and in 2007 initiated the annual “Excellence Social Work Award” by the HAW-Hamburg, the Hamburg 13 LIONS clubs and Siemens.

Weidner’s business book “The Pepperoni Strategy: How you use your natural aggression constructively” was published in 2005 and was number 1 of the bestseller rankings of the Financial Times Germany for 33 weeks and has now also been published in Korea, Taiwan, Poland, Spain and Russia.

In 2008, Weidner received the Speakers Excellence Award in Munich and his “pepperoni-strategy” has become a career strategy classic.