About us
Who we are, what we do and what moves us.
Our purpose is the (future) purpose
Our work as knowledge and innovation architects is all about the vitality of organizations and the people who work there. For both of them – people and organizations – vitality means being authentic in the midst of life and contributing to our world in a meaningful way. Orientation, the creation of new meaning, and purpose are key in a world characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (“VUCA world”). Living systems handle these challenges by finding a good balance between stability and renewal.
At theLivingCore, we follow this principle in our work with companies. It helps us turn the challenges of a digitized VUCA world into something positive by transforming and accompanying organizations on their path from their living core toward the future. Our approach of “learning-from-the-future” enables us to develop living and thriving organizations and spaces.
Team
We are committed people from very different backgrounds. Together with our customers, we shape desirable futures.
Tim Bendig
CEO theLivingCore in Germany
Sarah Bimingstorfer
Chief Narrative & Branding Officer
Gloria Bottaro
Team Dynamics Shaper
Thomas Fundneider
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Martina Hartner-Tiefenthaler
Organizational & Social Researcher
Isabel Kreitner
Chief Design & Manufacturing Officer
Oliver Lukitsch
Agency Catalyst
Michal Matlon
Place & Architecture Psychologist
Katharina Musialek
Head of theLivingCore Academy
Lena Müller-Naendrup
Urban Ecosystems Architect
Markus F. Peschl
Founder & Chief Science Officer
Carina Rohrbach
Chief Experience & Engagement Officer
Katharina Rötzer
Head of Ethnographical Studies & Research Wizard
Offices
Austria
Lange Gasse 29,
1080 Vienna
Germany
Hanauer Landstraße 154,
60314 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Harmsmühlenstraße 77,
31832 Springe
Mindset & Principles
1. From the inside out
Instead of providing solutions and quick fixes for complex challenges, we ”dive“ into the core of an organisation by asking the question: ”How is the system making sense of the world, on which assumptions is it based, and what are its potentials for shaping its external and internal future environments?“ Starting from identifying these future core potentials, we develop concrete and sustainable innovations from the inside out by bringing new meaning to the world.
2. Sensing and deep understanding
Our method is characterized by an empathic approach to the issue on hand. We fully open ourselves to reality to develop a deep understanding from the approach of ”sensing“, i.e. grasping the meaning of what is given. ”Deep understanding“ grasps the core of a matter, the essence, that which is at stake, not only its superficial appearances.
3. Learning from the Future
Classic innovation processes extrapolate from the past to the future. We turn this perspective on its head, trying to identify focal points or latent potentials in the emerging future, so as to cultivate them and harvest innovation. We are driven by the question as to what we can ”learn from the future” today.
4. Emergence
Where do new things come from? We assume that they do not come down from heaven and will not grow from the same soil forever. ”Emergence” means that new patterns and qualities grow out of interacting elements although these elements did not contain anything novel per se. As is the case in creative or evolutionary processes, new ideas or new models seem to ”come out of nothing” but in fact, they arise from the dynamic interaction of existing elements. Our expertise consists in designing an environment that supports precisely these processes of emergence for new things.
5. Enabling
The emergence of something new cannot be caused mechanically or ”according to a recipe”. However, one can create an environment conducive to processes of emergence. If you want butterflies, you have to sow a meadow for them. This is precisely our definition of ”enabling”: we create environments in which the probability for something new to emerge increases dramatically.
6. Co-creating meaningful and desired realities
Change is not a one-way street. That is why we develop innovations with a long-term and sustainable perspective in cooperation with our clients. With ”deep understanding” (see ”Sensing and deep understanding”) in mind, we seek to bring together all relevant stakeholders in an organization so as to create with them the future which they truly desire and which is meaningful for them.
7. Cultivating latent potentials
Potentials of innovation exist in all organizations. We won’t engage in wild brainstorming, but identify and cultivate potentials and opportunities that are not evident at first sight. In doing so, the goal we are aiming for is to bring those potentials to fruition like a burgeoning plant.
8. Radical openness
Our method is characterized by unconditional openness. We look at reality (in an organization) without fear and prejudice and we take it from there as we develop effective innovation ecosystems. Moreover, ”openness” stands for openness toward the future, a mindset fundamentally ready to look at existing things from a different angle, consider them anew, from ”out of the future”.
