Author and activist for tax justice Sebastian Klein studied psychology. His subsequent entry into strategy consulting was the opposite of what he had learned. Only money and profit are the focus.
You can simply tell that this old model, where people are resources that can be consumed, no longer works and does not fit into our time.
That’s why he founded Neue Narrative. The print magazine serves as both a workbook and a means of knowledge transfer. And 9 Spaces, which is part of it, is a digital platform for organizational development and transformation. Companies should learn how to not consume human resources and harm the planet, but rather do the opposite.
Klein likes to refer to the so-called donut model by Kate Raworth. If a company makes too little profit, it goes bankrupt. If it makes too much profit, it causes harm. This can manifest as employee burnout or environmental damage.
This is where New Work comes into play. For Sebastian Klein, this means: people-oriented work. The individual as a resource is at the center, and he takes their needs and personalities seriously. However, this does not mean that everything else is pushed aside.
On one hand, we are an incredibly wealthy society. We sit on 25 trillion euros in private wealth. And yet we constantly lack money everywhere. We can’t afford anything. We have to save. We can’t implement climate protection. We can’t bring our schools up to a modern standard.
As a result, Klein poses the following question regarding transformation: How can organizations function so that good people can do good instead of causing great harm?
Without this transformation process, companies will not be able to keep up with the times. These companies will not remain profitable and will close down. On the other hand, new companies are being founded, and this is part of the economy, as Sebastian explains. Because responsible business practices that stay within planetary boundaries are the only alternative.
