Henrik Langholf

is characterized by his extraordinary commitment to integrative future design and the activation of "collective intelligence". He is convinced that companies and cities are the places where the future is made.
His clients value him for the determination with which he takes the quality of their strategy work to the next level. With passion and a great deal of experience, he develops designs for workshops and projects and facilitates them in such a way that the future of the organization becomes tangible and a positive pull is created.
Building on his project experience in Europe, the USA, Brazil and China, he particularly enjoys accompanying international project teams through the challenging present into meaningful future perspectives.

Professional background

Henrik studied adult education, psychology, sociology and economics in Freiburg im Breisgau in the early 1990s. His focus was on the question of how organizational development can help to shape the future of companies and cities in line with the idea of sustainability. His diploma thesis, published jointly with Monika Nickelsen, was dedicated to the topic of "Systems analysis in organizational development".

1995, he founded the Institute for Innovative Learning in Freiburg as a think tank for management and team development and implemented training courses for trainees, foremen, industrial master craftsmen and management, such as the 9-day program "Courageous Management - Leading in Times of Change". Gradually, he was then called upon to support in-house projects. His first clients included the Bildungswerk der Baden-Württembergischen Wirtschaft, the Freiburger Beratergruppe, the IHK Bildungszentrum Breisgau-Südlicher Oberrhein and companies such as Berger-Lahr, Bosch, Metabo, Märklin, Rietschle, Rolic Technologies, Stadtwerke Freiburg, Thermo-Tex, Olympus and WMF.

From 2007 to 2013, he worked for the change management consultancy Dr. Kraus und Partner, where he built up the innovation team and the associated range of services. During this time, he was able to help drive forward change projects and strengthen the culture of innovation towards "open innovation" for a diverse mix of companies from A for Airbus to Z for ZF Lenksysteme.

Start of Zukunftsmoderation!

In summer 2013, he launched "Zukunftsmoderation! Henrik Langholf & Friends" based in the Grünhof in Freiburg. The first orders came from Porto Alegre/Brazil: the conception and facilitation of future conferences for a business association and a hospital. These were prototypical in their nature for his concern to sensitize large groups to burning future issues.

It is not uncommon for initial workshops to develop into long-term relationships, as with BASF over 10 years in the context of the "We create chemistry for a sustainable future" strategy. Hekatron Brandschutz and Hekatron Manufacturing in the Markgräfler Land region he was able to support for over 15 years in the design of their strategy projects.

The cities of Stuttgart, Hannover, Offenburg, Rottweil, Todtnau and Löffingen have commissioned him to work on exciting issues of municipal development. A special project in the context of migration and integration was the "Forum Courage Markgräfler Land" on behalf of the Protestant Church on the question: "How can courageous action succeed today?"

For him, "courageous action" means reguarly questioning oneself in the face of changing world and life situations to find out what feels good, authentic and forward-looking and then taking courageous steps in this direction.

Since 2016, this has led him to focus intensively on the state of the oceans and the future of water supply. The development of innovative formats such as the Water Festival Freiburg, the workshop for plastic-smart corporate strategies and the municipal water dialogues for the implementation of the National Water Strategy are the result of this. The decision to focus entirely on "water-conscious companies, associations and administrations" is a result of this process.

This path is embedded through participation and involvement in diverse, inspiring communities such as:

D2030 - Rethinking Germany!
Robert-Jungk-Bibliothek für Zukunftsfragen
Digital Water Institute - We are networking the future of water!
Freiburg Water Table
Oberursel learning forum for effective & healing change processes
U-Lab DACH and Global: Leading from the future as it emerges!
Procedere Innovation Camp on Participation

Henrik is the father of three sons and lives with his wife in Staufen im Breisgau. He loves hiking in the Black Forest and the Alps and has been an enthusiastic SC Freiburg fan "since Volker Finke".

"Mr. Langholf has an outstanding social ability, which I can probably best describe as animation and leadership skills. This competence should not be seen as typical "top-down" leadership, but as a modern empathic ability, i.e. the ability to put oneself in another person's shoes, to respect them and at the same time to provide an incentive structure from outside in order to promote ideas, plans and projects among individuals and groups."

Prof. Dr. Edmund Kösel, Founder of "subjective didactics" & pioneer of innovative learning cultures

"I would like to thank you once again for the good, constructive and successful collaboration over all these years. You have accompanied us for over 10 years in our strategy process and experienced many tidal currents with us! Beautiful experiences that I always like to remember, but also real challenges that had to be mastered. It wasn't always easy! I would like to express my great appreciation and acknowledgement to you once again."

Peter Ohmberger, long-time managing director Hekatron Brandschutz

"I have been working with Henrik Langholf for a bit over than two years on the topic of Culture for Open Innovation. We were looking for a seminar that would have to be implemented globally. Henrik supported us actively delivering a concept with several formats (Introduction, Advanced, Peer-Groups) that was indeed very efficient and accompanying the implementation throughout the organization. His energy and experience helped make this project a success in an environment where the offering is large. His concept is universal and unique at the same time. His flexibility mixed with a clear view on the results were important for the project.”

Dr. Valerie Andre, Innovation Management, BASF SE

"I can't imagine a company that wouldn't benefit from this type of facilitation!"

Kevin Woodward, Sales Manager Robert Bosch Automotive Steering

"Mr. Langholf familiarized himself with the subject matter within a very short time. Not only did he structure the event excellently in advance, but with his authoritative style of moderation, he led the 500 or so participants through an exciting evening in an extremely competent, fair and objective manner, while keeping to the time schedule. We will certainly be approaching him again for similar projects."

Andreas Wießner, Mayor of "Bergwelt Todtnau"

“Langholf pays off!”

Michael Roth, long-time managing director Hekatron Manufacturing