Jan U. Hagen

Jan Hagen is a professor at ESMT and joined ESMT's faculty in 2005. Jan’s interest in research is to understand how organizations deal with human errors as well as automation errors, how psychological safety can be established in teams, and how managerial practice can support a culture of learning in organizations. Apart from academic articles and books he published two books that focus on managing errors in organizations: Confronting Mistakes – Lessons from the Aviation Industry when Dealing with Error (Palgrave Macmillan) and How Could This Happen – Managing Errors in Organizations (Palgrave Macmillan). His research has received media coverage in outlets like the BBC, The Economist, Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Guardian, Forbes, Handelsblatt, Harvard Business Review, Manager Magazin, Spiegel Online, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and The Sunday Times.

Jan’s personal interest is in interacting with organizations to transfer academic knowledge to management. This particularly applies to his research with high-reliability organizations like the airlines and the military, which has implications for business leaders wanting to create agile, learning organizations. He is the program director for ESMT’s Leadership under Pressure executive program and he taught specifically on error and crisis management in courses at Cass Business School, IDC Herzliya, Imperial College London, Saint Paul Business School, Seoul National University, Singapore Management University, and Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. His executive education teaching portfolio includes programs for, among others, Allianz, Belgian Air Force, Daimler, Deutsche Bank, EnBW, E.ON, ERSTE Bank Group, European Investment Bank, European Parliament, German Federal Armed Forces, IBM, Lufthansa, Munich Re and Vienna Insurance Group. If time allows he also supports companies as a consultant with regard to error management.

"Successful and lasting error management lives of new ideas and impulses. Jan Hagen’s presentations were always full of inspiring ideas and outstanding scientific knowledge of the subject, significantly supporting my everyday effort to make military aviation safer."
Peter Klement, Brigadier General, Director of Aviation Safety of the German Federal Armed Forces

“Jan’s presentation was a top-notch experience that challenged conventional thinking and opened our minds to the advantages open error communication and the factual management of errors offer to organizations. We all walked away with a new sense of how thorough error analysis can increase a company’s knowledge if we don’t deny them or sweep them under the carpet.”
Philipp P. Gross, CEO Peter Gross Bau Holding GmbH