Rock'n'Roll Mindset

In *ROCK’N’ROLL MINDSET – Why Successful Entrepreneurs Think Like Rock Stars*, Jan Klage brings together two worlds that seem worlds apart—and shows that, at their core, they function in surprisingly similar ways. Because great bands, extraordinary entrepreneurs, and bold organizations don’t wait for all conditions to be perfect. They challenge the rules. They dare to experiment. They tolerate contradictions. They make mistakes. They get back up. And they forge their own path.

Rock ’n’ roll begins in the mind.

This book explores why beliefs limit us, why routines can eventually become prisons, how fear narrows our possibilities —and why change often begins exactly where security ends.

Jan Klage takes the reader behind the scenes of music, creativity, and entrepreneurship. It’s about mindfulness and shifting perspectives, about experimentation, networks, co-creation, productive friction, serendipity, resilience, a culture of learning from mistakes, and the power of making yourself visible with a clear mindset.

And then it’s off to the big stage of real-world practice: to companies, brands, and trailblazers who demonstrate how mindset translates into real impact. To OMR, Engelbert Strauss, Wacken Open Air, fritz-kola, Radio BOB!, Tim Mälzer, the Reeperbahn Festival, Viva con Agua, and other extraordinary examples.

They all demonstrate in their own way: Real change rarely stems from a perfect master plan. It begins with people who see something others overlook—and have the courage to make something of it.

This book is not a traditional management guide.
Not a checklist. Not just another framework. Not a recipe for success.
It’s an invitation to look at things differently.
To think differently.
To make bolder decisions.
And to make things possible before everyone else realizes they’re possible.

For entrepreneurs, leaders, creatives, founders—and for anyone who doesn’t just want to get by, but wants to make a difference.

With a foreword by Rudolf Schenker, founder and guitarist of the Scorpions.

The author, Jan Klage, holds a Ph.D. in media economics and has been studying the intersection of corporate culture and change management for many years. After nearly 25 years in leadership positions in the publishing and media industries, he has been teaching as a professor of “Leisure and Media Economics” at Stralsund University of Applied Sciences for the past decade.