HELLO THERE,
WELCOME TO GRETCHENFRAGE!

Hello! I'm Uwe, 
award winning strategist and creative director, 
writer, consultant and
public speaker. 

Gretchenfrage* is a strategy & innovation consultancy, 
where we work with delightful agencies + brands + startups on
new communication ideas, new ways of doing business
and new ways of thinking, 
especially about the impact of technology on business and behavior. 

We are based in Los Angeles and Amsterdam but are global citizens who love to work everywhere with nice people. 

We are called Gretchenfrage because we believe businesses need to ask questions that go directly to the core of the issue. 

The best way to innovate and change is to ask the right questions, answer them honestly and move forward with business. 

*Gretchenfrage = Any question going directly to the core of an issue.* 

Gretchenfrage, which literally means “The Gretchen Question,” is a reference to Goethe’s Faust. Gretchen is the leading lady in Faust, and she plays the foil to Mephistopholes, the devil. She represents Faust’s salvation, Mephistopheles his damnation. In the second half of the play, she asks Faust, “Do you believe in God?” to which he famously replies:

“My darling, who dare say:
‘I believe in God’? You may,
Ask a priest or sage and you’ll receive,
What only seems to mock and stay
The asker.”

This question – do you believe in God – is the Gretchenfrage in Goethe's Faust. It is a question that cuts to the heart of the matter. It is a blunt and direct question and the answer must be weighed heavily.