ABOUT MARCO HARENBERG

Celebrating change rather than fearing it.

I love helping people teams and organisation proactively sail through the waves of change. To see its potential, easily take on different perspectives, fail forward and learn along the way. There’s nothing more exhilarating than forging your own path. A path that feels right for you, rather than how it’s always been done.

A lot of people say “change is constant - deal with it”. I prefer to say “let’s steer your boat through turbulent waters to the next safe haven. Change may be constant but we sail best if we follow a good rhythm of high performance and restoration.”

Hi, I'm Marco...

...and I am an expert in sustainable business transformation and leadership development.

As a strategy consultant and top-team facilitator, I support leadership teams in making their companies future-ready, innovative, and sustainable. With over 12 years of experience in guiding top leadership teams, I offer targeted and tailored consulting and development approaches. My motto? Provide targeted and tailored advice, support, and, where necessary, reinvent.

Sustainability & Transformation – The Key to Success

Sustainability begins with the willingness to change, especially for leaders who must navigate their teams safely through the challenges of a VUCA world. In my work, I develop sustainable competitive strategies and guide companies through comprehensive transformation processes. I take on various roles – from strategy consultant to coach to "midwife" for development processes, whether for individuals, teams, or entire organizations. As the initiator of Sustainable Natives eG and through collaborations with pioneers like WWF Germany and Rinn Beton- und Naturstein, I bring valuable experience and success. Rinn Beton- und Naturstein was awarded the German Sustainability Award in 2018.

Dust Off & Get Going – For a Strong Team Culture

Modern business success relies on innovative leadership and a strong team culture. Outdated structures and rigid meetings are a thing of the past. Whether a startup or an established SME, fresh wind is essential. Our motto is: Dust Off & Get Going. We preserve proven approaches and improve where necessary. Because we know: Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Harnessing the power of culture to shape a successful future is my passion. Cultural progress and effective teamwork go hand in hand and are the key to long-term success.

The Magic of Effective Teams

At Let's Work Magic, we promote a culture of collaboration and openness, far from silo thinking. During my studies in philosophy and psychology, I learned that it's often more important to ask the right questions than to provide quick answers. My expertise lies at the intersection of strategy development and team efficiency.

Social Engagement

My experiences in development aid, particularly in Sierra Leone, have shown me how important resilience and team cohesion are in crisis situations. These insights flow into my work and strengthen the teams I work with.

Long-term Solutions for Sustainable Success

With a passion for leadership and team dynamics, I develop solutions with companies that remain relevant not only today but also in the future. When culture and strategy work together, real magic happens. Let's shape the strong future of your company together.

All the best,

Marco

German Interview

„Can concrete be green? How Marco'‘s client Rinn transformed an entire industry

Marco has been accompanying Rinn as a strategy consultant since 2012 and supports the development and implementation of sustainability strategy and reporting. In the meantime, Rinn has become a true sustainability expert and major player in Germany. Marco is still called in today as a coach and consultant for new projects.

Speaking Topics

  • When I am asked what the most important quality for future-proof companies is, my answer is always: innovation capability.

    The capacity to innovate involves recognising challenges, analysing them, developing practical solutions and implementing them.

    The world is changing - faster than ever before. This constantly brings new challenges to which companies must respond. And they have to do so quickly, smartly, profitably and sustainably.

  • There is no such thing as one right culture is sustainable and right for all organisations. When strategy and culture have breakfast together, it is about making values come to life and about creating strategies that make sense for everyone.

    I am happy to speak on how culture often eats strategy for breakfast and what an organisation can do about it.

  • We are in the middle of that feared volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. This also places completely new demands on leadership and managers. Old and dusty "leadership styles" no longer get you very far.

    Agility, communication, context-based action, humanity and transformational leadership may be buzzwords, but they have a lot of power behind them.

    Whether in the startup scene or in established medium-sized companies, a new understanding of leadership is needed everywhere.

  • If I got a euro every time someone told me "sustainability is expensive and exhausting," I could afford a new photovoltaic system by now.

    Of course, it is exhausting to integrate sustainability into a company. Just as every change demands a lot from us. But if you want to make your company fit for the future, there's no way around it.

    AND: If you do it right, you can not only save money, but you can even gain a real competitive advantage.

Backstage

MARCOS STORY

I would have never have thought that my philosophy studies, specialising in business ethics and social policy would later be so helpful to me later in life.

I have always had the urge to change things. This is also reflected in my CV, which reads a bit like an adventure story:

I did development aid and international team coordination in Sierra Leone, the poorest country in the world. In 2009, I was known from the news as the voice of the University Occupy Munich. I worked my way up from intern to supervisory board member at the management and organizational consultancy MANEMO and then entered the adventure of self-employment in 2011.

As big fan of joining forces and finding innovative ways to bundle our strengths, I founded the cooperative sustainability consultancy sustainable natives eG with other great people in 2017. Here, individual specialists are enabled to pass on their wealth of experience in a bundled way, which they still do today. 

Today, I get to work with great decision-makers who have made it their mission to set themselves, their teams, and their organiaations up for the future. I believe in the positive traction of great visions and love their pragmatic realiaation in everyday life. Looking behind the scenes with people within existing organizational structures, diving deep and creating change together. Step by step by step.