Sabbaticals – a radical approach?
Imagine you could pause your life and take time to connect to yourself more. That’s exactly what famous designer Stefan Sagmeister does every seven years. He gave a TED talk in 2009 which sparked my interest already at the time. Inspired by his radical approach, I decided to experiment with sabbaticals myself.
In the TED talk Stefan explains why and how he takes a sabbatical: He basically closes his studio and posts a message on his answering machine for the caller to call back one year later. If I am not mistaken, he should be currently on his next sabbatical – in Madrid, Buenos Aires and Guadalajara, Mexiko.
The talk is worthwhile:
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Weitere InformationenMy less radical approach
I heard that talk at the time and thought it was a brilliant idea. Still early in my own career working at Daimler Society & Technology Research Group I hoped to be able to do something similar one day. Stepping away from work every seven years to reconnect with your passion and creativity. It made me wonder—what would that look like for me? Could I find the courage to try something similar?
6 years later I gave it a shot myself. I know I had to tweak Stefan’s very radical approach a little bit. So, in 2015 – before starting my company dolaborate GmbH and moving to New Delhi, India – my wife & I wrote a bucket list of things we had always wanted to do in Europe and off we went for the next three months. We visited friends & family, hiked in the Corsican mountains, celebrated midsummer in Sweden (in the rain of course), visited Sicily, Venice & Trieste. We even made it all the way down to Rabat in Maroc (I know, that’s not Europe, but hey…). Our eclectic trip ended in Sarajevo after many more stops.
Now, another 9 years later we were able to do it again. This time only for 2 months. After living in Maputo, Mozambique, for 2.5 years we felt the need to see more of southern Africa. This time the trip was a little more structured: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Simbabwe and finally Madagascar.
Thanks to great colleagues
When I went in 2015, I was in-between jobs, leaving SAP and in the process of opening my own company. So, it was easy to take some time off. No one was waiting for me. I just had to quit my job a little early.
This time, I had my co-founders Susanne & Bernadette of mermaid & broccoli. So, they could have been unhappy with me leaving the desk and traveling in areas with no internet connection whatsoever. I am extremely grateful to them for having agreed for me to go on this trip, taking on the extra work-load – especially since they started our 11th wave of the –first open– transformation facilitator program without me.
Why is a Sabbatical worthwhile
Both sabbaticals gave me something I couldn’t get while working—a chance to pause, reflect, and reconnect with what truly matters. It helped me refocus on what I really want to do, what I’m good at, and how I can bring a little more magic to my work. In 2015 I had participated in a leadership development session facilitated by Tom Chi. He made us prototype our purpose. During this highly creative process the words “collaboration magician” came into my mind. In my sabbatical now, I realized how much these words still mean to me. They summarize quite well, what drives me when I facilitate co-creative problem solving, train facilitators or coach leaders who need to make their organizations future ready. I want them to solve their problems – but with a little magic twist.
(by Dr. Moritz Gekeler)
