Futurologist.
Not a fortune teller.
Max Thinius is a futurologist. That sounds like a trend forecaster, but it’s the opposite. A trend forecaster collects data and calculates what’s likely to happen. Max sees something else: the possibilities that exist right now – the only moment in which anyone can actually shape the future.
WHERE IT STARTED
What shaped Max goes back a long way. In the late 1980s, he stood outside the largest The Body Shop store in London for two weeks. No appointment, no contact, no internet. He wanted to speak to the woman who had built it.
Eventually Anita Roddick, the founder, came. They talked for three hours, and he spent the next two years working on projects that weren't supposed to be possible.
She told him something that has carried everything since:
“Don’t make a plan. Life knows more than you do. Find your values – and use life and technology to amplify them.”
THE LAKE
His way of thinking …
…doesn't work like a filing cabinet with labelled drawers. It works like a lake. Everything is there. Everything is connected. He sees patterns where others see scattered pieces. And he builds bridges from them that simply didn't exist before.
His knowledge doesn't come from universities. It comes from encounters, experiences and doing. Which might be exactly why he spent over ten years heading a university chair for innovation – to teach what life knows beyond the drawers, and to make new connections possible.
“Possibilities are real. Probabilities might happen. If you’re interested in the safer bet, look at possibilities.”
“He is Germany’s future competence”
(SWR (German public broadcaster))
“His ideas, his eye for what matters, his ability to empower people to take their future into their own hands – an evening with Max Thinius is a gift.”
(Bernd Reichelt, CEO Stadtwerke Schleswig-Holstein)
“Europe’s leading futurologist.”
(Handelsblatt & BILD – German daily newspaper)
If references matter to you – you'll find them at the bottom of this page.
THE STANCE
Possibilities are the safest way to shape the future – right now.
For over four decades, Max has worked with companies, municipalities and regions across Europe on one question: how do we use the possibilities of our time – not simply to become more efficient, but to create a better quality of life and economy for everyone.
Max co-created Germany's first sustainable tech investment fund, helped build the world's first sustainable rating agency, was a guest of the German federal government's scientific advisory council, and co-invented online food retail for Deutsche Post.
He is the author of several publications, co-founder of the Futurneo Institute and of BetterLivingPeople – which develops new possibilities for companies and neighbourhoods, turning them into new infrastructure and ways of living.
He created the SlowFuture movement and the formats Zukunft unplugged and Future-as-a-Service.
Der Mensch
If you’re looking for a speaker who’ll tell you what might happen in four different scenarios, he’s the wrong person.
If you’re looking for someone who discovers with your audience what’s actually possible – right now, with these people, in this organisation – let’s talk
The future doesn't happen – we shape it.
Whether it's a keynote, a tailored workshop or long-term co-creation: if you'd rather act on your possibilities than wait for probabilities – let's talk.
+49 30 6130 90 41 (Voice-Box)
If you'd like to see some future on video first.
A selection of recent appearances – TV, radio, film and my own – right here.
If references matter to you:
Business (Selection): Allianz, AktivBo, Apollo Optiker, Apotheker-Verband, AOK, Axel Springer, BauerVerlag, BerlinHyp, BioCompany, BioFach Nürnberg, BPD Immobilien, Burda, BMW, Carestone Immobilien, Chupa-Chups, Coca-Cola, Covestro, Christ Juweliere, Dematic, Diageo, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Leasing, Deutsche Post, Deutsche Sparkassen Vereinigung, Deutscher Sparkassen Verband, DEKA Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Deilmann Gruppe, Douglas Holding, Dow, Draeger, DWS, ETL Gruppe, European Sperm Bank, Feldhoff & Cie, Finance Forum Liechtenstein, Flowers-Hotels, FoodActive, Heineken, Fleuroselect, GASAG, Garbe Immobilien, HDI, IBM, Infinion, ITB Berlin, Juniper Telekommunikation, Kirchhoff-Gruppe, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg LBB, Lavazza Europe, Lufthansa, MAMA AG, Microsoft, McKinsey, Mercedes Benz, Merck Pharma, MLP, Messe Köln, Messe Nürnberg, Munich-Re, Müller-Milch, Nonconform, Noweda, Österreichischer Handelsverband, ODDO BHF, Ottakringer Gruppe, Pantera Immobilien, Panthaenius Versicherungsmakler, PPG, PIEL GmbH Soest, PURATOS, PWC, Quantrefy, Regal Verlag, Salzgitter AG, SAP, SCHUFA, Seidl PR, Serviceplan, Roland Berger, STEAG, Sparkassen-Gruppe, Spoga+Gafa Messe Köln, Thomas Henry, Togal-Werk-AG, Unilever, Union Investment, Vattenfall, V.E.R.D.I., Voeslauer, Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken, Volkswagen.
Politics (Selection): Berliner Senat, Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft, Land Baden-Württemberg, Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Lebensmittel, Bundesministerium für Arbeit, BDA – Bundesverband der Arbeitgeber, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Bitkom, Bundesverband E-Commerce und Versandhandel Deutschland e.V. (bevh), CDU, Deutscher Bauernverband, FDP, Forum nachhaltige Geldanlagen, Region Fresach, Gesellschaft für Marketing der deutschen Arbeitgeber GDA, IHK Arnsberg, IHK Lübeck, Stadt Iserlohn, Land Liechtenstein, Stadt Kassel, Stadt Kiel, KGSt, Mannheim Innomake, Österreichischer Handelsverband, Stadt Paderborn, Stadt Ravensburg, Land Schleswig-Holstein, Land NRW, Stadt Mannheim, Regierung Schwaben, UVWM – Unternehmensverband Westfalen Mitte, Konzernrepräsentanz der Deutschen Post, VFI – Verband der Fertigwarenimporteure, Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung.
Institution (Selection): Bioterra CH, Campus Symposium, Deutsche Umweltstiftung, BMBF (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung), StBiBa – Stiftung Bildung in Bayern, Bayerische Ingenieurskammer BayIka, Schule im Aufbruch, Rock it Biz – Stiftungsgesellschaft für Unternehmertum, Deutsche Umweltstiftung, Earthrise Foundation, Element-i, Gütegemeinschaft Substrate für Pflanzen e.V. GGS, Verein der Hochschulkanzler, IMK – Institut für Marketing und Kommunikation, Industrieverband Garten IVG, Freie Universität Berlin, Life-Stiftung Hamburg, Kultusministerien der Länder, Hochschule Niederrhein, Nordostdeutsche Sparkassen-Akademie NOSA, Plattform Ländliche Räume, Fachhochschule Südwestfalen, Smart Country Convention, Universität St. Gallen, Südwestfalen Agentur, Die Tafel Deutschland e.V., Miami Ad School, Die Stadtretter, Wirtschaftsförderung Brandenburg, Wirtschaftsförderung Düsseldorf, Mitglied im Rat der Gesellschaft, Wunderkammer der Zukunft Lüdenscheid.
Region (Selection): Berlin, Südwestfalen, Kiel, Düsseldorf, Ravensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Region Kopenhagen, Region Aarhus, Region Fünen, Odense, Region Amsterdam, Utrecht, Monnickendamm, Land Niederlande, Triest, Neapel, Rom, Land Slowenien, Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg, Liechtenstein, Zürich, Friesland, Wien, Graz, Salzburg, Region Ruhrgebiet, Land NRW (1.750 Kommunen im und um den Rhein-Erft-Kreis – was können diese mit KI eigentlich wirklich anfangen), Bochum, Dortmund, Essen, Region Arnsberg, Region Schwaben, Region Bayern, Region Regensburg, Region Oslo, Land Norwegen, Land Österreich (Bundestag in Wien).