Interview with our alumnus Benedikt Drossart

Benedikt Drossart (née Roth) works in transformation consulting at TheDive in Berlin.

Where am I & what do I do?
Since January 2018, I have been working at TheDive. TheDive is a movement and platform for a life-serving economy, focused on supporting projects that bring new ways of working and new forms of business into the world. We support people and organizations in opening a new chapter of development and help them realize their potential individually and as a team. Our areas of impact are transformation consulting, Neue Narrative magazine, NewWork space rental, NewWork spatial development, and the audiobook “Reinventing Organizations.”  

I currently hold three roles: I lead the People-Planet-Profit topic with the goal of developing TheDive into a role model for lived sustainability and a life-serving economy. In doing so, I use a participatory process guide for strategic sustainable development called the weave, based on the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development.
In addition, I am part of the Company Development Circle, a team of nine people that acts as a strategic steering committee.
Together with two colleagues, we bring a shared understanding of all the principles and concepts of self-organization to all teams at TheDive and support their implementation.

How did I get here?
After completing my bachelor’s degree at Alanus University in spring 2015, I spent three months traveling to various “changemaker” conferences in Europe and attended my first meditation retreat in the Swiss mountains. During that time, I learned how important it is to take time and create space for transitional phases, to gain new horizons through travel, and to ask the question: Who am I and what is my work? Where does my gift to the world, in the form of my abilities and potential, meet the hunger of this world? 
Shortly afterward, our social start-up kartevonmorgen.org received a scholarship from Ashoka, allowing me to work part-time on this project from the Social Impact Lab Frankfurt. At the same time, the refugee crisis deeply affected me, and I volunteered in organizing an initial reception center with the German Red Cross. I was also occupied by the question of how to bring good collaboration and sustainable practice together in organizations, which motivated me, as the youngest participant, to take part in the part-time IMO Masterclass (Institute for Human and Organizational Development) for a year.
In the summer of 2016, I began the long-awaited master’s program in southern Sweden with 40 committed people from all over the world. The topics resonated deeply with me: Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (MSLS), with two integrated questions: How can we support the strategic sustainable development of organizations, and what (self-)leadership skills and tools do we need for that, especially in the ever-growing complexity of our time?
After this period, it was important to me to find a meaningful, co-creative, and vibrant place to make an impact. Through a good friend in Berlin, I became aware of TheDive. So far, this has been by far the most enriching work experience I have had, and continuing to develop, shape, and learn within TheDive together with my colleagues enriches me greatly.

How did my time at Alanus University shape me?
Looking back, there are three areas that strongly shaped me during my time at Alanus University and for which I am very grateful: the diversity of people, practicing thinking beyond established boundaries, and living in a(n) (self-)entrepreneurial way.
The diversity of people at Alanus University is an incredible gift. With friends from my own department and the arts departments, I had countless inspiring dialogues about life, about “doing business differently,” and about artistic intelligence. The evenings spent together with music, dance, and community in one of the many shared flats or in the student garden were highlights for me. This diversity of perspectives enriched every event in the Studium Generale, which is why I was and still am a true fan of the Studium Generale.
We were encouraged not only at Studium Generale events by philosophers such as Harald Schwätzer and Silja Graupe to “think for ourselves,” but also through art projects with which we questioned business as a whole, and through specializations such as Institution, Individual, Organizations with Susanne Blazejewski, I was able to sharpen my perception, reflection, and will to shape things.
After completing my studies, I had a book bound containing all my independent work, reflections, and academic texts, which I still look through from time to time. The topic of my bachelor’s thesis, “Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainable Development,” continues to accompany me in my work.
Through events with luminaries such as Götz Werner (founder of dm-drogerie markt), Thomas Jorberg (member of the executive board of GLS Bank), and Peter Piechotta (member of the executive board of the Neuguss Foundation), as well as guest speakers such as Alexander Schwedeler (former member of the executive board of Triodos Bank Germany and head of the IMO Masterclass) and Mathieu van den Hoogenband (former CEO of Weleda), I repeatedly found inspiration to think and act in a(n) (self-)entrepreneurial way. For me, it was always exciting to observe whether I perceived the person as authentic and could believe them. These lectures often went beyond “traditional business” and addressed matters of the heart, such as universal basic income; mistakes were shared that later proved to be important elements of learning. We talked about approaches to development leading toward an eco-centered economy, one that achieves results serving the well-being of all.
Of course, the practical phases at dm-drogerie markt were an important part of this time, during which this entrepreneurial attitude enabled me to work in sustainability management and employee development.