Introduction
Welcome to another episode of DJ’s Technological Tuesday – and today in a very special format, with two wonderful guests: Annette Kolb and Frauke Harnack from Inspiranten. Some of you will already know them both. We recently ran a fantastic format together called Beyond Bullshit. Beyond Bullshit is a great motto – and Inspiranten is a great name too. So Annette, what exactly is Inspiranten?
Annette Kolb
Inspiranten? We are a communications agency based in Berlin, and we have been actively working in communications for 15 years. Everyone does something with communications. But we do not just do communications – we go into companies. We support them during change processes. We actually develop communications and strategy concepts, embed ourselves in their teams, and accompany them through major challenges – including operational processes.
Thorsten Jekel
Brilliant. And that is almost exactly where our event format, Beyond Bullshit, comes in. Frauke, what was the idea behind Beyond Bullshit?
Frauke Harnack
The idea emerged – if I am honest – from frustration on the one hand, and from a longing and a genuine wish to do something different on the other. The frustration: there are so many interchangeable business events out there. You might get a nice location if you are lucky, some nice nibbles, a lot of talking – and in the end everyone walks out exactly the same as they walked in. Nothing of substance really happened. You ask yourself: was that really it? And from that, a kind of longing grew in us: surely it can work differently. Surely it can develop more substance, and real encounters must be possible at the C-level. That is essentially how Beyond Bullshit came about.
Thorsten Jekel
Brilliant. I love the idea. We have now done the first run. Annette, what is the basic concept of the setting? What can participants look forward to next time?
Annette Kolb
We have guests who all come from the C-level. They bring real topics. What we encounter every day is that executives, managing directors, and board members face questions that are not easily answered. What do you do when you are in a change process and suddenly have to cut costs by 50%? Well, the first instinct is staff reductions. But is that always a solution, or can you also work structurally – restructure working hours, streamline processes, or design them differently? The honest questions are usually the ones people dare not ask, because the honest question would be: how do I do this without losing everyone along the way? How do I bring everyone with me? How do you make this work in daily life? How do you remain an effective board member and still achieve great results, while keeping your whole team on board – and guiding them through a change process in a way that ensures success with the new setup afterwards? People struggle with this, and it is not easy for board members and managing directors. We have these conversations every day. We have been accompanying companies for up to ten years, and allowing people from different companies to talk to one another about these questions honestly is very important and creates an exchange that is genuinely candid – because everyone is dealing with the same problem.
Annette Kolb
And perhaps we can help solve a bit of that.
Thorsten Jekel
I thought that was fantastic. At the first run we did together, the idea was to give short impulses – and those were compelling. But what I found even more compelling was the exchange afterwards, all in a superb location. Frauke, would you like to say a few words about the location?
Frauke Harnack
Yes, it is actually something of a hidden gem.
Thorsten Jekel
Hopefully we are allowed to reveal it here. Well, I have to say, this is quite a spoiler.
Frauke Harnack
We have a very small location that we have been advising for many, many years. It is the Old Smithy’s Dizzle in Berlin-Friedrichshain – a little courtyard gem right in the middle of a residential area, with very different rooms, lovingly decorated, very much vintage, very much original vintage, if you can say that. We actually took two rooms to create some variety. The official part, so to speak, was in the Esse – that is the name of the room – with a workshop atmosphere, very airy, lots of light, with tiered seating that is permanently installed, like stands. From there we moved into a completely different room. The name Hacienda already suggests it might have something of a southern or Spanish feel – and that is exactly what it looked like. I think we can say that by the end of the evening everyone agreed: the guests felt very comfortable. We had a very small circle of C-level clients – CEOs, CTOs from various industries – and nobody wanted to leave, which is always a good sign, because the conversations were so stimulating.
Thorsten Jekel
I think I was home at one in the morning or maybe half past one. It was a somewhat long but wonderful creative evening.
Frauke Harnack
I would agree. We heard nothing negative afterwards, and the next event will indeed take place in the same setting – we are very curious to see who will come. The invitations are essentially already on their way.
Thorsten Jekel
Brilliant. And you always say – it is also on your fact sheet – that you start where okay ends. I really love that. Annette, what does that mean to you? Where does okay end, and where do Inspiranten begin?
Annette Kolb
Well, we had an interesting theme, Thorsten. A topic you also contributed: AI. What do you do with it today? AI is on everyone’s lips, but how does it really work? And how does it work specifically for a top-level executive who wants to use AI as effectively as possible? That is what we answered that evening. And the second topic, which we also received from Ralf Goldschmitz, was New Work. New Work is a hot topic today – perhaps more than ever – because how do you bring everyone along who is dealing with work-life balance, or life-work balance – I am not even sure what the right term is anymore.
Thorsten Jekel
I have not quite figured out the concept yet. (Ha-ha)
Annette Kolb
What it comes down to is that we look more at quality, and above all at what actually happens in real working life. What do people genuinely need in their day-to-day work? Whether it is AI at board level or tools and questions that New Work can perhaps answer far better – by working much more collaboratively as a team and developing together.
Thorsten Jekel
And that is exactly what you do – Beyond Bullshit. I find the name so brilliant, because in our follow-up conversation we also said that what we want to focus on even more next time is being very clear about what the usual bullshit-bingo phrases are – the things people always say must be done – and calling them out. There are now book titles like “Change Me in the Ass” – a literal quote, that really exists – which is just one sign that the usual platitudes no longer work and that it is not about entertaining a group of people and creating a flash in the pan. So Frauke, perhaps you could give one or two examples of where you have accompanied companies beyond that initial spark – because that is exactly what you do as an agency: not just organise a nice Christmas party, but genuinely accompany change processes as sparring partners and generate lasting results. Do you have a couple of examples for us?
Frauke Harnack
I would say we always go the extra mile and we go where it gets a little uncomfortable, where it can hurt a bit, and try to draw people out of their shell – beyond clichés and beyond potential shows or phrases that get constructed. It is very easy to hide behind phrases. It is convenient in the short term, but in the long run it gets no one anywhere, because you stay extremely on the surface with all the discussions you could be having. We always probe a little and ask: what else could you do? We accompany companies. Leadership events often come out of that, and we work with clients over a very long time – years, actually. Those who come to us tend not to want to leave, which we find very gratifying. But we also bring them a great deal, because we come to know exactly how they tick, how they work together, and where we might want to adjust things and do them a little differently. And the key thing is: when executives attend these events, they go home afterwards – hopefully – and then the next day or the following week they return to their teams and need to communicate: what are we going to do a bit differently from now on?
Frauke Harnack
Or: what has my manager actually learned? Or: does she now have all the answers to the questions I have been accumulating over the past weeks and months? So we also try to pick up where the previous leadership event left off and keep moving forward from one to the next – and to find good solutions in the process.
Thorsten Jekel
On your website you list references such as Jägermeister, Allianz, and E.ON – just three that catch my eye first on the references page. Annette, what was your favourite project? A word of warning to everyone listening now who thinks they were not involved: of course, all projects are our favourites.
Annette Kolb
Well, in recent years three projects have been particularly exciting, and one of them was developing the communications concept and strategy for Allianz Vertrieb – addressed to 60,000 advisors and specialists who sell and explain insurance and financial products to clients. We essentially built up the internal communications and created a newsroom. It was a tremendously exciting project, because we could do exactly what represents our qualification and, above all, our quality. We asked the why: why do you want to put so much information out into the world, and what is actually important for whom? That was a lot of fun, because we could really measure the success: how do you reduce 14 messages a day on the same topic to one single message – containing only what is truly essential for the advisors? Very challenging for us, very exciting – to reach and engage 60,000 people and keep them genuinely well-informed is not straightforward. Setting up the newsroom concept was very enjoyable. We essentially helped build the whole team and explained in what structures communication reaches the target audience most effectively.
Annette Kolb
That was a project that ran for a very long time. The development took three years and has now essentially reached its conclusion this year. It was a very exciting process at the communications level, where we were deeply embedded in the teams, of course. Yes, I think so. And a second project is definitely one from the end of last year. We were involved with one of the largest energy network gatherings and events worldwide – Free Electrons – where seven utilities from around the world came together with 350 young entrepreneurs and innovators to genuinely explore: what else can be done in the energy sector? Where are we actually heading? What will happen after 2030? Most people think to 2030, perhaps now already to 2040. But what does that actually mean? What does it mean when we work with blockchain technologies? What does it mean when we go beyond renewable energy? Which services in the energy sector are truly important and right? And where is the matchmaking – meaning, where do industries meet and create new products and services together? One of – or probably the most important – global energy networking event, held in Hamburg over a week, with various forum formats, contributions, and of course a great outcome in the end.
Annette Kolb
That is also a series that comes to life again each time. Our first client in that context was E.ON, but it is actually a shared project with seven utilities from Japan, China, Canada, and beyond. It was a very beautiful task, a very interesting task. We have very deep expertise in the energy sector, having served the top 11 players in the field for 15 years and having advised virtually all energy clients for a long time – so of course that makes it all the more enjoyable. Those are my top two from recent years.
Thorsten Jekel
Those top two – wonderful. Frauke, what do you enjoy most in the Inspiranten team?
Frauke Harnack
Where do I start? Where do I stop? The variety of tasks we have is enormous. That is also the beauty of being self-employed – we have been doing this for 15 years now, from Berlin. I honestly would not know which single thing I enjoy most. It is exciting every time. Every client is different. Every subject matter you have to immerse yourself in is completely different. We write scripts, because we also empower many internal managers or future managers to actually moderate an event themselves over the course of several days. That is a task that recurs, but it is always completely different. That is what makes it so exciting – working with different industries and diving into different topics and areas. And of course – I have to say this too – it is great when events do not take place in Berlin or Germany, but elsewhere. Then you might have a bit of Sweden thrown in, a bit of the Netherlands, and you get to travel a little. That is quite nice too.
Thorsten Jekel
Also very nice. And what I find so great about you is – I have worked with various agencies quite often as a speaker when I am booked – but most of them are event agencies who build great formats and great events. What I notice about Inspiranten is that you go beyond that – you truly start where okay ends, or perhaps even where excellent ends – in the sense of genuinely accompanying clients strategically over the long term. That is exactly why I enjoy working with you on the Beyond Bullshit format. So for those of you listening now who may have been wondering whether to attend – it is a small, exclusive circle, to which we personally extend individual invitations. It is in Berlin, in a superb location. We always have two short impulse sessions, where we deliberately raise the things that do not work – not bullshit bingo – and then engage in a genuine exchange: what has actually worked for you? What has worked well in your organisation? Last time it went well past midnight, and I believe some very valuable connections were made between participants.
Thorsten Jekel
And another very valuable contact I can strongly recommend to you is the Inspiranten team, with whom I very much enjoy working personally and whom I would warmly encourage you to get in touch with. I look forward to seeing you either at Beyond Bullshit or at a joint event – inspired by these two wonderful leaders of Inspiranten. Thank you both so much.
Frauke Harnack
Thank you so much, dear Thorsten. Thank you.
Thorsten Jekel
All the best.
Key Takeaways
- Inspiranten is a Berlin-based communications and creative agency that has been accompanying companies through change processes, communications strategies, and operational processes for 15 years.
- The event format “Beyond Bullshit” emerged from frustration with interchangeable business events and a genuine desire for substantive exchange at C-level.
- The event takes place in a small, exclusive circle with CEOs and CTOs from various industries at the Old Smithy’s Dizzle in Berlin-Friedrichshain.
- At the first Beyond Bullshit event, the topics of AI for executives and New Work were discussed; the exchange lasted well past midnight.
- Inspiranten accompanies clients over the long term – sometimes for years – building internal communications structures and acting as strategic sparring partners for leadership events.
- A highlight project was building a newsroom for Allianz Vertrieb, supplying 60,000 advisors with targeted internal communications – a three-year development process.
- Another key project was accompanying Free Electrons, a global energy networking event with seven utilities and 350 young entrepreneurs in Hamburg.
- Inspiranten differentiates itself through strategic depth: they start where other agencies stop – beyond standard formats and short-lived impulses.
- At Beyond Bullshit events, deliberately uncomfortable, honest questions are asked – the kind that executives often cannot or dare not ask in their day-to-day work.
- Thorsten Jekel recommends Inspiranten as a partner for sustainable corporate communications and the strategic accompaniment of change processes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Inspiranten and what do they do?
Inspiranten is a communications and creative agency from Berlin with 15 years of experience. They support companies during change processes, develop communications and strategy concepts, and accompany clients in operational processes directly within the organisation.
How did the event format “Beyond Bullshit” come about?
The format “Beyond Bullshit” emerged from frustration with interchangeable business events where little substantive exchange actually takes place, and from a genuine desire for real encounters and in-depth conversations at C-level.
Who participates in Beyond Bullshit events?
Selected C-level executives attend Beyond Bullshit events – CEOs, CTOs, and board members from various industries. The circle is deliberately kept small and exclusive; participants are personally invited.
Where do the Beyond Bullshit events take place?
The events take place at the Old Smithy’s Dizzle in Berlin-Friedrichshain – a small courtyard gem with various lovingly decorated vintage rooms, including the Esse and the Hacienda, each offering a completely different atmosphere.
What topics are covered at Beyond Bullshit?
The first event addressed AI for top-level executives and New Work. The aim is to ask genuine, uncomfortable questions – beyond bullshit bingo phrases – and to find concrete answers relevant to day-to-day working life.
What sets Inspiranten apart from other communications agencies?
Inspiranten does not just support clients at individual events – they accompany them over years as strategic sparring partners. Their motto is: “We start where okay ends” – they deliberately go where it gets uncomfortable, avoiding short-term flash-in-the-pan solutions.
How did Inspiranten support Allianz Vertrieb?
Inspiranten developed a communications concept and built a newsroom for Allianz Vertrieb, supplying 60,000 advisors with targeted internal communications. The project lasted three years and aimed to reduce information overload by delivering only what was truly essential.
What was the Free Electrons project with Inspiranten?
Free Electrons is a global energy networking event where seven utilities from around the world – including companies from Japan, China, and Canada – came together with 350 young entrepreneurs. Inspiranten accompanied this week-long event in Hamburg, one of the most important networking gatherings in the global energy industry.
How does Inspiranten approach the topic of AI?
AI was one of the central themes at the Beyond Bullshit event. Thorsten Jekel provided an impulse session on how executives can make the best use of AI. Inspiranten focuses on practical, relevant answers rather than abstract buzzwords.
How can I attend a Beyond Bullshit event?
Beyond Bullshit events are limited to a small, exclusive circle. Interested C-level executives are personally invited by Inspiranten. Those who wish to participate can get in touch via Thorsten Jekel or directly through Inspiranten.
Tools & Resources Mentioned
- AI for Executives – The use of artificial intelligence at the top level, discussed at the Beyond Bullshit event
- Old Smithy’s Dizzle, Berlin-Friedrichshain – Venue of the Beyond Bullshit events, featuring vintage atmosphere
- Free Electrons – Global energy networking event with seven international utilities and 350 start-ups
