To me it is clear that people matter profoundly. If we want to solve the world’s most important and urgent challenges we have to make sure that people can thrive in environments (social as well as physical and technological) that allow their brilliant ideas to become reality.
I’m Vera Hofmann
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My Motivation
I have come to the conclusion that I want to use my life to detect and help to unfold the potential of people and organizations. Therefore I have carved out a personal mission that guides me in everything I do. I measure myself against it every single day. My mission is to strive towards and to point out opportunities to grow for me and others. By listening and observing mindfully and acting according to it I add depth and value in everything I engage in. I look for the positive and beautiful in my environment, in others and in me and (help to) unfold its full potential.
more about me
Moving from Knowing to Growing
During my studies in Psychology at the LMU in Munich, the Saarland University and the Università degli Studi di Trieste I observed that in our western world we seem to nearly exclusively focus on a) what can be measured and b) what needs to be fixed.
Even though I love the subject of Psychology I missed a way of approaching and working with humans in a way that acknowledged their complexity and the potential for doing good. I wondered why we stop paying attention once the problem is found and fixed. Actually here it would become interesting to learn what makes us thrive, wouldn’t it?
That’s why I was hooked immediately when I learned about an approach called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). I signed up for an internship with an internationally working AI practitioner and consultant and soaked up everything I could find about this human-centered and strength-based approach. In serendipity this internship was also the stepping stone for me to move from my home country to the Netherlands. I attended the 1st Global Conference for Positive Change in Amsterdam and swore to myself that sooner or later I would a) move to this cosmopolitan, liberal and tolerant city and b) that I’d find a way to earn my money in a way how most of the people I met during that conference did: by helping people and organizations to thrive.
It took me another year of starting and quitting my first full time job in the hospitality industry and applying in vein for a new position before I gathered all my courage to leave Germany for an uncertain future in the Netherlands. Without having a job offer and only with a few invitation to see apartments in my new hometown I packed my suitcase and moved. I found myself rewarded in the next days by finding a nice place to live and my first assignment as a project manager for the 2nd Global Conference for Positive. Sometimes you just have to trust life and the grace you may receive when you dare to imagine.
In the years that followed I combined the expertise and experience I gained in the hospitality industry and the world of consultancy when co-creating Prio.me, a start-up providing L&D solutions for service-minded businesses. With Dare to Imagine I continue this journey, helping to make the world and our businesses more life-affirming places.
I do that as a facilitator and coach by allowing my clients to find, listen to and make meaning of the answers that are already within us. I also create and facilitate programs that help you understand the extra-ordinary times we live in. Times that allow us to shift from centralized to decentralized power structures, from a fear- and depth-based economy to a trust-/purpose-/care-, maybe even love-centered way of doing our business, times that demand for planetary thinking, that teach us to appreciate our uniqueness and the beauty in diversity and where we may wonder what unique value we can create as human beings in times of artificial intelligence.
My passion, curiosity and expertise lies in the fields and topics of courage, women in leadership, appreciative inquiry, intercultural psychology and the paradigm shifts we experience in these days.
Proud to deliver value in cooperation with
In 2020 I co-designed and -hosted the micelab:Bodensee together with Tina Gadow and Michael Gleich. This project is an exceptional example for co-opetion (collaboration & competition) which points to new, innovative forms of learning & working.
Michael Gleich is journalist, curator and researcher of vitality (Lebendigkeits-forscher). I had the pleasure to work with him in the context of the micelab:bodensee where we co-created together with Tina Gadow the micelab:expedition, a learning journey around “safety in times of uncertainty”.
Heike Aiello, MBA, is an expert in Appreciative Inquiry, an approach building upon the strengths of people. With CoreConnect she supports organizations, teams & individuals to discover their excellence and put it into action.
I’m proud to support the leaders and experts of the Presence Group trough a customized Leadership & Organizational Development Trajectory. We support a new generation of leaders and this growing organization to thrive.
Heidi Sieber, artist and visionary, is an expert in Neurographik®, a tool that helps revealing insights from the unconscious. With GlobalheArt she empowers individuals and organizations. In 2020 we hosted the 22 Days of Grace.
I’m proud and honored to be part of the lively European Appreciative Inquiry Community. The community members inspire and support each other in their growth and practice. I support this learning and bonding process as community manager.
I got to know and to appreciate Tina Gadow as an expert in process consultation, talent development, design of transformation & learning, group facilitation and culture development. I had the pleasure to work with her on the micelab:expedition.
I am proud to become part of the advisory board of Paradigma. Paradigma is a collective of advisers, speakers and trainers with very diverse backgrounds. Its purpose is to study the links between people, organisations and societies.
The ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehung is worldwide active to help build and maintain democracy, freedom and cultural diversity. I supported the leaders of the Department Dialogues in a troublesome time with process facilitation and coaching.