From Business To Being 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago, From Business To Being asked a question that moved many people at the time:

How can people in business and leadership stay healthy, clear and connected — without losing themselves or becoming ill?

Today, this question is no longer a personal side issue. It is one of the central leadership questions of our time.

Multiple systemic crises, AI transformation, technostress, economic uncertainty and an ever-increasing pace of change are challenging leaders in ways that conventional strategies alone can no longer answer.

That is why From Business To Being is now returning — not out of nostalgia, but because the questions at the heart of the film are more relevant, more urgent and more pressing than ever: as a film, as a live format for companies and as a license for organisations, trainers and coaches.

“The crisis of the working world is not a crisis of structures. It is a crisis of awareness.”

This thesis was at the heart of the film. Today, it feels more urgent than ever.

Organisations can change processes, rewrite strategies and implement digital systems. But if the people who are meant to carry this change are exhausted, disconnected or no longer inwardly grounded, real transformation cannot emerge.

Then change is merely managed — not embodied.

When From Business To Being was released, the pressure within organisations was already clearly felt: acceleration, constant availability, increasing complexity, questions of meaning and the first burnout debates in executive circles.

Since then, the situation has intensified significantly. Covid, wars, geopolitical tensions, inflation, economic disruption, uncertain markets and AI transformation have created a leadership reality that has become more brittle, more anxious, more nonlinear and harder to understand.

This is precisely why From Business To Being is being reframed ten years later: the film opens an emotional space for experience and reflection. Julian Wildgruber expands this with a current impulse on psychosocial stress, technostress, digital strain and environmental health stressors that affect the human ecosystem today.

In the workshop that follows, these themes become practical pathways towards healthy self-leadership, resilience and leading from inner strength. Depending on the organisation, current challenges, internal tensions and specific development topics can be integrated into the workshop design — so the format addresses exactly where leadership teams need to move forward and become more resilient.

From Business To Being follows three leaders searching for a way out of the “hamster wheel” of constant pressure: a former investment banker at Lehman Brothers, a major project manager in the automotive industry and a regional manager at the dm drugstore chain.

Their motivation is not to step away from responsibility. It is the desire to reconnect work, leadership and life with meaning, enthusiasm and authenticity.

With sensitivity and without taboo, Hanna Henigin and Julian Wildgruber offer insight into the emotional world of a sphere that is often closed off: the world of business leaders who are expected to function — while sensing that something essential is missing.

The film explores whether the crises of the modern working world are, at their core, crises of awareness. Can meditation, mindfulness and awareness training help people recognise stress-inducing patterns of thought and behaviour? What capabilities do leaders need so that systems, processes and digital tools serve human beings — rather than turning people into extensions of their own systems?

In search of answers, the filmmakers meet experts from business, science and meditation practice. Together, they build a bridge between business and being — and open a space for a cultural shift that places the human being back at the centre.

A film that moves, invites dialogue and encourages an honest look inward:

Who am I? What inspires me? And how do I live and act accordingly?

Leaders today stand between strategic demands, operational pressure, constant digital presence and the expectation to provide orientation even in uncertain times.

They have to make decisions when the situation is unclear. They are expected to stabilise teams while being under pressure themselves. They are asked to shape transformation, even when the pace of change exceeds the organisation’s ability to process it in a healthy way.

Technostress, media overload and digital systems do not only change work processes. They change how people think, communicate, decide and relate to one another.

The central question is therefore not only:

How does the organisation need to change?

But also:

What is the state of the people who are meant to carry this change?

Julian Wildgruber is a director, producer and entrepreneur. For 15 years, he led international teams and delivered international projects as CEO. From Business To Being was his first feature documentary — born from the insight that those who do not lead themselves can only lead others with difficulty.

As a certified MBSR trainer after Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mindful Leadership Trainer at the University of Witten/Herdecke and Holistic Life & Health Coach, he supports leaders in staying healthy, clear and capable of action in a BANI world — brittle, anxious, nonlinear and incomprehensible — and in leading from inner strength.

Expertise: MBSR Trainer after Jon Kabat-Zinn · Mindful Leadership Trainer, University of Witten/Herdecke · Holistic Life & Health Coach · Entrepreneur · Director · Producer

Julian Wildgruber speaks about why From Business To Being is even more relevant today than when it was first released — and how the film can be used in organisations, leadership teams and training formats.

From Business To Being is a film for people who carry responsibility — and for organisations that understand that real change does not begin only in structures, processes and strategies.

It begins in the awareness of the people who shape them.

Anyone who would like to watch the film, experience it live or use it in their own format is welcome to get in touch directly.