{"id":12119,"date":"2026-03-16T16:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/?p=12119"},"modified":"2026-03-16T16:46:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:46:01","slug":"leadership-without-costume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership without the costume: the responsibility of letting go"},"content":{"rendered":"

When rigidity speaks the language of agility<\/strong><\/h3>

There is a scene I encounter regularly, and it always makes me uncomfortable: a leader tells their team, \u201cWe need to be more agile.\u201d Or, \u201cYou need to learn to let go.\u201d On the surface, the words are not wrong. In an unstable environment, no organization can survive for long if it remains rigid. Adaptability has become a condition for viability. <\/p>

But in the way it is embodied, something rings false.<\/p>

What these statements often mean, implicitly, is this: don\u2019t cling to your way of seeing things, adapt to mine. Be flexible, but in the direction I have already chosen. Be open, but toward the solution I believe is the right one. <\/p>

Agility is being demanded from a rigid posture.<\/p>

Letting go is being discussed without applying it to oneself.<\/p>

The gap is subtle. Yet it deeply undermines the credibility of leadership. <\/p>

Another scene, just as common: a leader looks for a coach to \u201cwork with my teams.\u201d To make them more strategic. More responsible. More aligned. Less resistant. More performant. The intention is rarely malicious. It usually comes from a genuine desire to improve. <\/p>

But behind the request lies an implicit assumption: my way of leading is the right one. If others adopted my worldview, my interpretation of the issues, my decision criteria, everything would work better. Reducing complexity to a single vision, even a brilliant one, weakens the system rather than strengthening it. <\/p>

This is often where the real work in coaching begins: not by immediately bringing solutions, but by helping a leadership team see the implicit assumptions that are already shaping their decisions. As long as those frames of thought remain invisible, the solutions they implement simply produce more of the same outcomes. <\/p>

It is an almost invisible mechanism. And yet a deeply rigid one. <\/p>

The different faces o leadership<\/strong><\/h3>

Each style of leadership rests on a particular worldview – a way of defining what must be protected, what must be structured, what must be accelerated, and what must be harmonized. <\/p>

We can observe several major styles of leadership.<\/p>

  • There is leadership that protects the group, valuing belonging, loyalty, and transmission. It becomes precious in moments when collective identity is fragile. <\/li>\n\n
  • There is leadership that decides quickly, takes a stand, and accepts confrontation. It becomes necessary when an organization is paralyzed or facing a crisis. <\/li>\n\n
  • There is managerial leadership, attached to rules, processes, and reliability. It secures and stabilizes the system. <\/li>\n\n
  • There is entrepreneurial leadership, oriented toward performance, focused on results, efficiency, and expansion. It innovates, energizes, and moves things forward. <\/li>\n\n
  • There is relational leadership, attentive to human dynamics, inclusion, and cooperation. It restores trust and cohesion. <\/li>\n\n
  • And there is systemic leadership, capable of holding these logics together, navigating complexity without trying to oversimplify it.<\/li><\/ul>

    None of these styles is \u201cthe right one.\u201d Each becomes relevant in particular situations. Spiral Dynamics offers an evolutionary lens for understanding these different \u201cfaces\u201d or \u201cparadigms\u201d of leadership – not to elevate one above the others, but to understand how they complement each other and how a leader can learn to move between them. <\/p>

    Rigidity is not the opposite of agility. It appears when one of these styles is absolutized, when we believe that our way of seeing the world is the only legitimate one. And what if the paradigm we call \u201cperformance\u201d were itself approaching the end of its cycle?<\/p>

    Changing approaches is not enough<\/strong><\/h3>

    The first thing I look for when I meet a leadership team is not the quality of their strategy, nor the level of their ambition. What interests me first is their ability to question themselves, not cosmetically, but in depth. <\/p>

    Are they able to say, without feeling diminished, \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d? Can they admit that they are sometimes overwhelmed by the complexity they themselves have helped create? Can they imagine that their way of seeing the world, work, and organization will have to evolve – even if they do not yet know toward what? <\/p>

    Letting go is often confused with changing tools or methods. We move from directive management to participatory management, from control-based steering to trust-based leadership, from a pyramidal organization to a more distributed one. <\/p>

    But these shifts remain superficial if the underlying paradigm does not change.<\/p>

    In a leadership team, this becomes very concrete: one can change meeting formats, introduce collective decision-making tools, or clarify roles. But if the way problems are interpreted remains the same, tensions simply reappear somewhere else. <\/p>

    It is possible to adopt the vocabulary of agility, collective intelligence, or shared leadership while remaining convinced that we hold the best solution. It is possible to talk about autonomy while still retaining control over all structural decisions. It is possible to appear open while subtly steering the discussion toward the outcome we had already chosen. <\/p>

    The posture in the face of uncertainty<\/strong><\/h3>

    The real issue is therefore not methodological, it is postural. It concerns the way a leader stands internally in the face of uncertainty. Letting go does not mean abandoning responsibility or diluting authority. It means accepting that one\u2019s reading of a situation is partial, situated, and shaped by a particular way of seeing the world. It requires tolerating the discomfort of not having an immediate answer, resisting the temptation to close a question too quickly simply because ambiguity is difficult to hold. <\/p>

    This posture requires a form of inner maturity: the ability to decide without identifying with the decision, to listen without already preparing a defense, to hold a framework while accepting that it may need to evolve. In other words, recognizing that what worked yesterday does not guarantee that it will tomorrow, and that clinging to our certainties often amplifies the very dynamics we claim to want to change. <\/p>

    The quality I look for is simple and demanding at the same time: knowing that one does not know. This is where genuine letting go begins – not in moving from one solution to another, but in moving from the known into the unknown, with the awareness that the journey will transform the person who leads it. <\/p>

    Remaining in uncertainty without tightening up is a rare capability. And it takes courage. <\/p>

    In a transformation coaching, this posture changes the nature of the work itself. The objective is no longer simply to improve the organization or to make decisions flow more smoothly, but to create a space in which leaders can observe the way they themselves intervene in the system. Because a leader does not transform an organization only through what they decide, but through the posture from which those decisions are made. <\/p>

    First step: learning to dance with the situation<\/strong><\/h3>

    In an unstable world, leadership can no longer be monolithic. The challenge is not to become \u201cmore collaborative\u201d or \u201cmore directive.\u201d It is to develop the capacity to shift posture according to the situation. <\/p>

    Situational leadership offers an initial formulation of this idea: adapting one\u2019s style to the maturity and autonomy of one\u2019s counterparts. The intuition is correct. But when applied mechanically, it becomes just another technique. <\/p>

    What is at stake is deeper.<\/p>

    It is about learning to dance with reality.<\/p>

    To dance between initiative and listening. Between presence and withdrawal. Between framing and openness. To decide when the system needs a decision, and to step back when the system can learn by itself. To support without suffocating. To question without destabilizing unnecessarily. To confront without humiliating. <\/p>

    This dance requires deep inner clarity. In practice, it often plays out in very simple moments: deciding when to intervene in a discussion and when to let the group search, asking a question instead of providing an answer, or accepting to slow down a decision in order to clarify what is truly at stake. <\/p>

    Recognizing when I intervene out of responsibility – and when I intervene out of fear. When I step back out of trust – and when I step back out of avoidance. <\/p>

    This is where leadership becomes alive.<\/p>

    Second step: dancing without the costume<\/strong><\/h3>

    There is a frequent confusion between power and role. Many leaders end up identifying entirely with the costume they wear: the position, the title, the formal legitimacy. This costume provides structure, authority, and a place within the organization. It reassures. It protects. It creates distance. <\/p>

    But in complex environments, the costume is no longer enough.<\/p>

    A hierarchical position allows decisions to be made. It does not guarantee the quality of those decisions, nor the quality of the space in which others can think. And that is often where true leadership takes place: in the ability to create the conditions for a collective intelligence that exceeds one\u2019s own. <\/p>

    Dancing without the costume does not mean renouncing one\u2019s role. It means not reducing oneself to it. It is a lucid form of leadership – aware that it is situated, partial, and shaped by its own blind spots. <\/p>

    A leadership that accepts that the world is changing faster than its certainties.<\/p>

    A leadership that fully assumes its responsibility without pretending to have all the answers. This implies renouncing the need to be the single reference point. And that renunciation is not comfortable. <\/p>

    Because if I continue to cling to my way of thinking, to my vision of the world, to my definition of success, I will produce more of the same. I will reinforce the mechanisms already present in the organization. And if those mechanisms generate rigidity, disengagement, or fragmentation, I will not only witness them – I will amplify them. <\/p>

    It is a difficult idea to accept. But it changes everything. The real question may not be: how do I learn to let go? But rather: what am I still holding onto that prevents me from evolving with the system I claim to lead? <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When rigidity speaks the language of agility There is a scene I encounter regularly, and it always makes me uncomfortable: a leader tells their team,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[113,114],"class_list":["post-12119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-collective-performance","tag-situational-leadership",""],"yoast_head":"\nLeadership without the costume: the responsibility of letting go - Paradigm21<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A reflection on contemporary leadership: learning to let go, questioning one\u2019s paradigms, and leading with clarity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leadership without the costume: the responsibility of letting go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A reflection on contemporary leadership: learning to let go, questioning one\u2019s paradigms, and leading with clarity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paradigm21\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/paradigm21.ch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-16T15:44:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-16T15:46:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Leadership-sans-costume-scaled.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"884\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marc Mathys\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marc Mathys\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/\",\"name\":\"Leadership without the costume: the responsibility of letting go - 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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 amen\u00e9 \u00e0 exercer mon activit\u00e9 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.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/team\/marc-mathys\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Leadership without the costume: the responsibility of letting go - Paradigm21","description":"A reflection on contemporary leadership: learning to let go, questioning one\u2019s paradigms, and leading with clarity","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Leadership without the costume: the responsibility of letting go","og_description":"A reflection on contemporary leadership: learning to let go, questioning one\u2019s paradigms, and leading with clarity","og_url":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/","og_site_name":"Paradigm21","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/paradigm21.ch","article_published_time":"2026-03-16T15:44:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-16T15:46:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":884,"url":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Leadership-sans-costume-scaled.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Marc Mathys","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marc Mathys","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/","url":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/","name":"Leadership without the costume: the responsibility of letting go - Paradigm21","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Leadership-sans-costume-scaled.png","datePublished":"2026-03-16T15:44:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-16T15:46:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7fe66553c3c313bde0b62ad809f13f7b"},"description":"A reflection on contemporary leadership: learning to let go, questioning one\u2019s paradigms, and leading with clarity","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Leadership-sans-costume-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Leadership-sans-costume-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":884},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/resources\/articles\/leadership-without-costume\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Leadership without the costume: the responsibility of letting go"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/","name":"Paradigm21","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7fe66553c3c313bde0b62ad809f13f7b","name":"Marc Mathys","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/marc-avatar.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/marc-avatar.jpg","caption":"Marc Mathys"},"description":"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 amen\u00e9 \u00e0 exercer mon activit\u00e9 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.","url":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/team\/marc-mathys\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12119"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12122,"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12119\/revisions\/12122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paradigm21.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}