Meet Neuland Toolmaster® Mathias Weitbrecht
Mathias is one of the European pioneers in the field of visual facilitation. Since 2005, he has created products, platforms, and teams that visually support processes, meetings, and change. He is the founder and CEO of Visual Facilitators GmbH, with a team of 35 visual process facilitators, graphic recorders, and facilitators. Together:
www.visualfacilitators.com / www.visualisierung.training / www.explainas.com
But before you frantically click through the three pages, we have an interview for you. And it's a really great way to get to know the man behind this team a little better, and above all, on a more personal level. He captivated us immediately…
Mathias! We're thrilled to welcome you as a Neuland Toolmaster®. To start, a quick question: What are your three hashtags?
#VizTrain
#ConsciousEntrepreneur
#Mindset
That piques our interest. Is there anything we absolutely should know about you?
I often caption my Instagram posts with: "I don't know what the future will be. I only know I will visualize it." It reflects my broad perspective and how connected I feel to everything, past, present, and future. In reality, however, I'm hardly ever online on social media – my productive focus is more important to me.
What else should we know? I've traveled to over 80 countries. I'm the author of the book " Co-Create! The Visualization Book " (Wiley Publishing). And: I read about 20-30 books every year. ????
Ultimately: I've been meditating since 1985. I also incorporate this into my visualizations. I assume that the material world, as well as the world of numbers, data, and facts, is the smallest part of reality. The intervening "energetic" space is far greater, and it's also what connects us. I see myself as someone who is talented and practiced at visualizing the subtle, energetic, and spiritual aspects of reality that are becoming increasingly important in our world.
So all these qualities are probably also the reason why you're so successful and yet always seem extremely relaxed and balanced, if I may say so. When did you decide to do what you're doing today... and why?
At the end of 2004, I was at a turning point in my life. Something was calling me to change things, to follow a calling. It was a conscious reinvention of myself (which I consider very healthy to do every now and then in life). Then, at the beginning of January 2005, I bravely wrote to a friend and mentor: "I want to work with you." Without knowing if it would work, where the journey would lead, or what would follow. Something came of it, and I started right away with visualization! So, I began at the beginning of 2005, and by the beginning of 2020, I had celebrated my 15th professional anniversary as a visualizer/visual facilitator. In 2007, I took a visualization course with the Communication Guides to discover that I could have potentially taught it myself 🙂 It was a lot of fun and very valuable to me – and it took place at Neuland!
After a short time, I started thinking beyond myself and not just marketing myself as a person, but founding a brand and beginning to collaborate with others. We created platforms, products, and teams that have an impact and achieve what you can't achieve alone. It's not exactly easy, but the challenge fulfills me.
What helps me with that? I mentioned "mindset" as a hashtag. That's what has really propelled my entrepreneurial journey forward. I even offered a workshop dedicated solely to mindset for visual practitioners at the IFVP Conference in 2019.
I also mentioned the hashtag "VizTrain". This is our series of online courses (very relevant right now) that has been around since 2016.
Impressive! It takes real courage to follow a call like that. 🙂 You're now a facilitator… What goes through your heart and/or hand when you hear the word facilitation ?
I firmly believe that facilitation and/or visualization offer genuine contributions to addressing the challenges of our world. Solutions are no longer found in the realm or mindset of "either-or" but rather in "both-and." In other words, it's about integrating multiple, even contradictory, perspectives. Facilitation helps with this.
I don't see myself merely as an observer of the current transformation and the changes that might be necessary in systems, structures, and perspectives; rather, I see myself as a pillar of it—as a co-creator. And then I have the audacity to say that my tiny contribution has an effect because it works immediately in practice and subtly lifts the entire field. It deeply fulfills me to be able to work in this way, with this leverage and a cultural contribution.
What I said above about the subtle dimensions of our reality also has a direct impact on practical work. Right now, an incredible amount of new things are manifesting in the world. When this newness comes down in a very subtle and refined way, it seems that old, dark, or shadowy aspects also surface. We are therefore seeing both in the world at the moment – crises and the new. We then have a responsibility to maintain this high level of awareness. Against this backdrop, crises are a wake-up call. And we can hopefully address this through facilitation as well as personal development, both within ourselves and in the communities where we live and work.
And is there an experience in your life that has particularly shaped you?
Helmut Schmidt once said, "Anyone who has visions should see a doctor." My experience is more along these lines: I don't want to underestimate the power of a (visualized, felt) vision. It's what works in our subconscious and makes something happen. Several times in my life I've had phases where a new, powerful vision emerged and then manifested. This is what created Visual Facilitators GmbH and our impact. And that shapes me—and will continue to shape me in the future.
Speaking of visions, imagine a world without any new products. As a visionary, what product would you absolutely have to invent?
A world without Neuland products? I find that hard to imagine… Well, if it has to be – and this ties in with the previous question: I would invent a vision visualizer, a kind of “manifestation accelerator.” So that everyone could instantly visualize and create all their desires. But with a built-in “bullshit detector” that prevents our humanity, our pursuit of happiness and fulfillment, our democracy, etc., from being “visioned away.” For a better world. A virtual Neuland marker, so to speak, as an evolutionary accelerator.
We sincerely hope you actually invent something like that someday! 🙂 Until then… Just keep doing what you're doing; you're already making a great contribution.
Dear community, that concludes the interview. And because you read so diligently to the end, we've listed the links to the three pages you should definitely visit here:
www.visualfacilitators.com / www.visualisierung.training / www.explainas.com
