Jens Heitland is a versatile innovator and entrepreneur with extensive experience in leading positions at well-known companies such as IKEA, Deutsche Bank and Fjord (Accenture), where he specialised in innovation and leadership.

During his time at IKEA, Jens Heitland served as Global Head of Innovation and played a key role in developing sustainability strategies for the company. His passion for sustainability and innovation eventually led him to found HEITLAND Innovation GmbH, a company focussed on supporting innovators.

“Innovation starts with people.”

Jens Heitland’s entrepreneurial projects focus on people-centred innovation and personal branding, having a significant impact on the development of leaders in various industries. His commitment to fostering entrepreneurship, combined with the marriage of academic knowledge and practical application, makes him a key figure in shaping the future of business innovation and leadership.

Jens Heitland Lecture topics

• Leading with Impact: Practical Tools that Jens Heitland utilized as the global Head of Innovation IKEA Centres.

How to utilize the personal leadership brand, measure what matters and build a network for impact as a Manager inside of an organization.

• Human Innovation: How LeaderSHIFT enables BusinessSHIFT and generates impact.

The Audience will understand that Human Innovation integrates leadership and culture with organizational innovation, they will take away how they can create a dynamic organization that delivers significant impact.

• Data driven Leadership: How measuring leadership will change the trajectory of an organization.

How leadership impacts company results and how individuals and organizations can measure leadership effectively to gain insights and change the way they lead.

• Innovating the edge of an organization: How human relations change the way the future looks.

How to purposeful structure and curate innovation in an organization.

Jens Heitland is not only an entrepreneur and innovator, but also an active podcaster and public speaker. In his podcast programme “The Jens Heitland Show”, he focuses on topics such as human innovation, reverse mentorship and his experiences in innovation work at global companies. In this format, he conducts interviews with leading personalities and innovators and shares his thoughts on various topics, including the importance of human-centred innovation and leadership.

His work and approach are significantly influenced by the concept of human innovation, which aims to seamlessly connect innovation and leadership. This enables organisations to continuously innovate by focusing on the human element. According to this philosophy, groups of people are always more powerful than individuals, and fostering collaboration and teamwork is critical to the success of innovation endeavours.

In addition to his work with HEITLAND Innovation, Jens Heitland is involved in various other projects and companies, including XYZ Playground, a platform for reverse mentorship, and Ai-Fortuna, a company that organises innovation events for leaders. He is also active in educational and mentoring programmes and regularly appears as a speaker to share his insights and experiences.