"The status quo is just a starting point."
Michael Hartmann
"Life is about the people you meet, and the things you create with them so go out and start creating."
from The Holstee Manifesto
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm note sure about the universe."
Albert Einstein
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."
Albert Einstein
"The best way to predict the future is to create it."
Peter Drucker
"The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."
John Maynard Keynes
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito."
Dalai Lama / African Proverb
Built to endure.
Not optimized for exit.
For owners and decision-makers
who build for the next generation.
Most organizations are built to perform.
Very few are built to be handed over.
They depend on:
– individuals instead of systems
– permanent escalation instead of structure
– optimization instead of responsibility
This works —
until leadership changes, ownership transitions,
or a real crisis hits.
That’s when organizations fail their founders,
their people, and the next generation.
Organizations
should be built so they can be handed over —
not sold, not optimized to death,
and not dependent on individuals.
This belief is not theoretical.
Over more than two decades, Michael has built and led
security, governance, and operational systems in complex
organizations — including global crisis leadership and
executive responsibility.
He has seen what breaks organizations.
And he has learned what allows them to endure.
How Michael works
Michael does not fix organizations.
He designs systems that allow organizations
to function without heroes — including himself.
His work follows a few non-negotiable principles:
Systems must work without their creators
Organizations must protect people from structural failure
Responsibility outweighs efficiency
Long-term trust matters more than short-term performance
If a system depends on him (or any individual) , it is not finished.
How Michael supports owners and decision-makers
Depending on where you are, Michael's work takes different forms — all serving the same purpose: building organizations that endure.
Strategic Advisor & Sparring Partner
Supporting owners and executives in making better long-term decisions – without political agenda.
Fractional Executive (CSO/COO)
Taking temporary responsibility to build structures that continue to work once he steps out.
Keynote Speaker
Creating clarity and shared language around long-term responsibility and system design.
He doesn't work for exits.
He doesn't build dependencies.
He doesn't aim to stay.
He works to make himself unnecessary – by building systems worthy of the next generation.
