ESMT Insight Hour with Tina Manker 

Raise the floor: lessons from high-performance teams

March 3, 2026, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. CET

ESMT Berlin, Schlossplatz 1, 10178 Berlin 
and via livestream

This event will take place on campus and online. To attend, please register using the form below.

Medals, titles, and records look like success – but they do not make you a champion. 

In this ESMT Insight Hour, Tina Manker, Olympian, world champion, and coach for high-performance teams, invites participants to rethink what performance and leadership really mean. True champions are not defined by what they win, but by how they behave, especially when no one is watching. 

Drawing on her experience in elite sport and her work with leadership and startup teams, Manker will explore how high performance is built collectively, sustained over time, and tested under pressure. 

• What does it actually mean to be a champion when no one is watching? 
• Which conversations are teams most likely to avoid, and why? 
• Do you really want feedback?  
• Performing on your best day is easy. But how do you perform on your worst? 
• What difficulties await you when you leave your comfort zone?  

Participants will leave with new perspectives on behavior, pressure, and responsibility, as well as practical insights into how teams can “raise the floor” to perform – and achieve – consistently. 

The session concludes with an experiential element that brings the realities of preparation, pressure, and performance vividly to life. 

Moderated by Hilde Rosenboom, Program Director, Executive Programs, ESMT Berlin 

About the speaker

Tina Manker is a coach, teacher, and Olympic rower. She represented Germany at the London 2012 Olympic Games and achieved multiple international successes, including World Champion in 2011 and World Championship Bronze in 2010. She has worked as a performance life coach at High Performance Sport New Zealand and currently serves as team coach for startup and high-performance teams in the DEEP Pioneers program of DEEP – Institute for Deep Tech Innovation at ESMT Berlin.  

Manker is also a TEDx speaker. Her talk, “Emotions help us create connection,” focuses on the role of emotions in performance, leadership, and human connection. 

About the moderator

Hilde Rosenboom is a Program Director at ESMT, where she designs and delivers Executive Education programs, including High Performing Teams führen and a range of customized corporate training programs.