Story keynote · Pillar 3
Wealth That Doesn’t Make You Sick
Story keynote · 45 minutes · for investors, owners, family offices and succession forums
At 30, she was the youngest woman on the board of a stock exchange. Vienna. Budapest. Then came private equity: companies acquired, built and exited.
By every metric her audience uses, she had succeeded.
This keynote is about what that success cost, why nobody sends an invoice for it and what she would structure differently today. It is told as a story rather than a warning, because warnings rarely work with an audience that is used to pushing through.
The talk in one paragraph
Capital is supposed to buy freedom. For many successful entrepreneurs, it can create the opposite: a structure they cannot step away from, responsibilities that never stop and a health account quietly being drawn down to support the balance sheet.
Dr. Barbara Bauder tells that story from the inside: a stock exchange board member at 30, a private equity founder with completed exits and later more than 10 years as an integrative psychotherapist working with people facing exactly these pressures. The talk identifies three structural decisions that can help separate wealth from strain, and the question worth asking before the next growth phase rather than after the exit.
Why the biography is the argument
There is no other longevity speaker in the German-speaking market with a capital markets record. That is not simply a credential. It solves a specific problem.
A finance audience is unlikely to accept health advice from someone who has never experienced their kind of pressure. The resistance is often immediate, even if it remains unspoken. Dr. Barbara Bauder has experienced that pressure herself. That gives her the credibility to move beyond general advice and into the substance of the talk.
The core question
The trade-off between performance and health is usually discussed as a matter of personal balance. In reality, much of it is structural. How a company is built determines whether the owner can step away. Which decisions still depend on them determines whether responsibility ever really stops. How an exit is structured influences whether there is a meaningful life on the other side of it.
None of this is simply a question of willpower, and much of it is decided years before it becomes a health problem. This keynote makes those connections explicit and shows where the trade-off is a structural choice rather than an inevitability.
What happens on stage
Five acts. One shift.
The structure is planned; the delivery is not scripted.
01
The parquet
What it really looks like from a board seat at 30, and what nobody in that room was measuring.
02
The invoice nobody sends
Where the cost accumulates and why it often becomes visible only when it is already expensive.
03
The other side of the desk
More than 10 years of clinical work with people facing similar pressures, with recurring patterns told through anonymised examples.
04
Three structural decisions
The decisions that can help separate wealth from strain, including the trade-offs each may involve for growth.
05
The question before the next phase
One question worth asking before the next growth round rather than after the exit.
Take-aways
What your audience leaves with.
How to assess your own performance-vs.-health trade-off honestly, without turning it into another self-improvement exercise.
The three structural decisions that can help separate wealth from strain, and the trade-offs each may involve.
The question worth asking before the next growth phase rather than after the exit.
Why post-exit emptiness can be predictable and what can be structured in advance to reduce the risk.
Built for
Investor events and banking conferencesFamily officesFamily business and succession forumsEntrepreneurship summits and founder communitiesPrivate client events at wealth managers and private banks
Why Dr. Barbara Bauder
The clinical qualification and the board-level record — in one speaker.
Former stock exchange board member, with roles in Vienna and Budapest at age 30.
Private equity founder, with companies acquired, built and exited across several industries.
More than 10 years as an academically trained integrative psychotherapist, bringing a clinical perspective on the consequences of sustained pressure.
Founder of High Heal® GmbH and the Bio-Longevity Alliance®.
Author of the Longevity to Go!® series.
MBA, MSc.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a health talk for a finance audience?
It is a talk about structure and the health consequences that can follow from it. That order matters, and it is one reason the topic resonates with a finance audience.
Does Dr. Barbara Bauder give financial advice?
No. The decisions discussed are structural and organisational, not investment recommendations.
Does it work for a mixed audience of owners and advisers?
Yes. Both perspectives are addressed, which makes the keynote well suited to mixed audiences.
Can it be delivered as a closed-door session?
Yes. For family offices and private client groups, a confidential format without recording is often particularly suitable.
In which languages is the keynote available?
German and English.
Booking
Enquire about this keynote — reply within 24 hours.
You get availability and a topic recommendation within 24 hours. German and English. In person, virtual or confidential.