Marc Mathys

Specialized in the diagnosis and supporting transformation, I combine Spiral Dynamics, Integral Vision with a human and holarchic approach to organizations.

I founded Paradigm21 in 2018 to share 3 years of experience in creating and managing a "distributed" organization. I am committed to supporting the transformation of our society and its institutions.

What motivated me to choose to accompany the emergence of a new paradigm

Many of us are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental impact of our lifestyles, our food consumption, our energy use and our carbon footprint. A good number of years ago and like so many others, I started a (too) slow shift of my habits towards a fairer, more local, more sustainable consumption. Even though I still see many inconsistencies in my life choices, I am trying to bring awareness and acceptance of my imperfection.

It would be wonderful if everyone took this same path, at their own pace and in their own way. Unfortunately however, this would not be enough. The challenges facing humanity and our planet are much greater, whether we are talking about global warming, the disappearance of species or the socio-economic disparities between the different layers of our societies as well as between rich and poor countries. I fear that the individual actions and citizen movements that are underway are far too slow to respond to the urgency of the current situation. In other words, if we don't find a way to get the economy on board, the future does not look good. However, the capitalist system as it was established in the 20th century tends to systematically privilege short-term gains and the creation of shareholder value to the detriment of any other measure. I am not advocating killing capitalism, but there is one principle that needs to be urgently reviewed. It is the one that allows companies to redistribute economic gains to shareholders while the negative impact of economic activities on the environment, health and society is ignored in the balance sheet of economic activity and becomes the responsibility of governments that try as best they can to limit the damage, but without giving themselves the means to do so since they are themselves primarily at the service of the economy.

I am certain that the solution will come from the companies themselves and the people within them. What is needed to ensure that the awareness and lifestyle choices of individual employees are also translated into responsible behavior by the companies in which they work? There is very little missing in my opinion. What is needed is a shift in decision-making power from a small group of shareholders to a larger number of employees who are committed to taking their individual and collective responsibilities seriously. It is therefore urgent to put people at the center of the organization and to make room for collective intelligence in strategic choices. But this should not be at the expense of shareholders. As consumption choices also evolve, it will sooner or later become a simple matter of economic survival to be committed to a sustainable activity rather than continuing with the status quo. The new cultural and structural paradigm of organizations that we are accompanying is certainly a way to accelerate this change by starting to put people at the center. I am convinced that the transformation of organizations is a Trojan horse in the world of business and public authorities to enable a societal transformation on a much larger scale.

The professional career that led me to do this activityLe parcours professionnel qui m'a amené à exercer mon activité

With an engineering degree and an MBA in my pocket, nothing predestined me for this line of work. I dreamt about it for a while during my one-year training as a professional coach, but as I didn't know where to start, I did absolutely nothing.

I then moved into conscious entrepreneurship by co-founding ArboLife (the forerunner of Paradigm21) in 2015, which was recognized as a pioneer of the emerging paradigm of organizations in Switzerland. In 2018, it was after following a multitude of synchronicities that I was first inspired to co-create a training on distributed organizations, then attracted our first customers and finally co-found Paradigm21 by inviting other members to come and co-construct the company that we currently know. What is interesting about this experience is that there was never a strategy or goal to do coaching or training in this area, we just responded to what came our way by putting one foot in front of the other. Along the way, however, we have developed common visions for Paradigm21 but these are regularly updated to reflect the reality we experience.

The biggest challenge I've faced in my evolution

Although I was the initiator of new organizational practices in the different structures that I co-founded, I kept tripping over my old automatisms inherited from a previous career and the management jobs that I held. And today, almost 6 years after I started and despite my experience in training and accompanying other organizations on this same path, I continue to discover behaviors that I have in certain situations that do not support our own way of operating. Every time I think I've covered all the mistakes that can be made on this path of internal and organizational transformation, I stumble upon one more example of a trap I've fallen into. It is thanks to the tensions that my behaviors generate and to the feedbacks of my colleagues, which can be both benevolent and sometimes a little ruthless, that new opportunities for my own evolution are revealed.

My favorite book

I have many "favorite" books, but one of my latest finds is "The Surrender Experiment" by Micheal Singer. I devoured this book in the summer of 2021 and loved the way the author recounts a 30+ year career path in which he let go of every major decision. That is, instead of having a strategy and executing it by putting aside "non-priority" opportunities, he systematically accepted the opportunities that life presented to him, even if (and especially if) they went against what he had consciously chosen to do. And the result speaks for itself. Following one synchronicity after another, the sequence of events that have occurred is mind-boggling and of a nature that we, too, should trust life and let things that arise spontaneously unfold.

If I could have a super power, it would be...

To have a magic wand that allows me to free all the people I interact with from limiting beliefs that they are not aware of and open the doors to a world in which they are free to be who they really are and do what matters to them. Of course, I would first test this magic wand on myself.

One thing from my bucket list

To live a minimalist life in a Tiny House close to nature and with a garden to grow most of the fruits and vegetables to feed myself. The goal is not necessarily autonomy, but at least to drastically reduce my carbon footprint in relation to my consumption and my lifestyle.