The Authenticity Architect

For decades, strategy consultant Christina Henkel ignored her inner voice before she was ready to follow it. This experience, she is convinced today, makes her a better leader.

The authority of a leader has nothing to do with authoritarian behavior. It arises from trust, from the ability to convince others to follow you. Christina Henkel (61) knows this. She has experienced it, suffered through it, and understood it.

For over 20 years, the business economist with a PhD has been advising companies on strategy matters. Her central thesis: Authenticity and authority are inextricably linked. “Only someone who has walked a painful path can radiate this authority,” says Henkel. She speaks of composure, openness, the ability to coach employees. Of a presence that is not borrowed.

Finding the Inner Voice

Self-development is quite painful. You make yourself vulnerable, recognize contradictions in your own thinking and actions. Henkel puts it radically: “You must have found your own voice – truly hear it and be able to follow it.” Only then can you tell others about it, give them advice, and accompany them on their own path.

Her own path prepared her for her current role. Two and a half years ago, after her facial feminization surgery, Christina Henkel began living permanently as a woman. The transition from Carsten to Christina was more than a personal transition. It was, as she says, “an extremely intense form of personal development.” Hearing an inner voice that had been drowned out for decades. One that she had ignored for years and finally followed.

This experience made her a better leader. Not despite, but because of the vulnerability. Anyone who has found their own voice can also help others discover theirs.

Questioning the Status Quo

In her projects – strategy development, marketing, pricing, M&A – Henkel systematically questions the status quo. This creates uncertainty. Some managers she works with fear being accused of not having acted intelligently enough. This is where her real work begins: creating trust. “No one walked on water,” she tells her clients. It is not about finger-pointing, but about improving together.

Young project managers with “borrowed authority” need more than technical expertise. Henkel recommends leadership training – in business, she laughs, that’s “therapy.” Multi-day group processes – and above all: honesty within the team. “We are in a situation I did not expect. Let’s discuss this together.” Only then does genuine commitment emerge.

This is why she has also withdrawn from projects. For example, at a company where the CEO saw digitalization as a personnel problem. Henkel realized: The business processes, the product range, the entire production processes needed to be completely overturned. “I understand that you want to take a different path. Therefore, I propose ending our collaboration.” The CEO looked at her as if she had come from Mars.

Leaders are paid to manage uncertainty. Markets, regulation, technology, raw material prices – companies live in constant complexity. “Anyone who can’t handle that should apply for a job in the public service,” Henkel says dryly.

Christina Henkel worked as an employed management consultant before becoming self-employed. In parallel, she lectures at the University of St. Gallen and coaches executives.

Developing Future Visions

When it comes to AI, she perceives a lot of confusion. Her answer: Scenario planning. She learned the method from its inventor at Shell, and later implemented the model in many of her projects. One develops three, four, or five possible future versions – based on the same variables, but with different characteristics. Companies can then observe which direction reality is moving in. And react in time.

Resilience, tolerance for frustration, assertiveness – for Henkel, these are not soft skills, but core competencies. She also sees these qualities in her Master’s students in St. Gallen. Half dropped out during the assessment year. Those who remain want to work harder, think more interconnectedly, more complexly. “That’s a lot of fun,” says Henkel.

The Unplanned Career

She never planned her own career path. After officer training in the German Armed Forces – tank reconnaissance, first leadership experience – came her business administration studies, her doctorate at HSG, then management consulting. “I took the path that was common in my peer group back then,” she says. It was fun, went well, and offered career opportunities. At the large consulting firms, she got to know countless executives and their doubts and problems.

With the consulting firm Skyadvisory, her step into self-employment, she wanted to work differently than the industry’s large tankers: more focused, more personal, more independent. In parallel, teaching at HSG, mandates on advisory boards, investments. “I followed my instinct.”

Today, she lives in Küsnacht with her partner, a banker and artist. Together, they are preparing a gallery, planning social media clips, and a vernissage. In addition, Henkel runs her consulting business, lectures, coaches, and is repeatedly called in for assignments in companies. Life is full, sometimes chaotic – everything parallel.

But she has learned to deal with uncertainty. She does not preach theories that are not based on her own experience. Her authority is not borrowed. She found her own voice – and dared to follow it. That is the foundation for everything else.

February, 2026

Source: Translation of an article first published in HANDELSZEITUNG, EqualVoice United Special, on December 11, 2025.