Known to ask: “What is needed now?”
I’m a designer and facilitator of integrated transformations. Standing at the intersection between human and business transformation, I founded BreathingBusiness out of my passion for helping people and businesses go beyond their comfort zone to find enrichment and to come fully alive!
Karen Tobiasen, Founder and CEO
I hate waste in all forms and shapes – and I love impact. That’s why I have a burning desire to help individuals and organizations to transform, disrupting their lives as a way to enrichment.
As a business executive with over 20 years in People, Culture and Transformation leadership, I know a bit about human and business transformation. In fact, I wrote a book on it – The Heart Revolution – and founded BreathingBusiness to help organizations design and deliver another way to transform.
I’m a collector of the lightbulb moments, where people do things they never imagined they could. And I myself come fully alive when I’m deeply engaged in asking, listening to and sensing people – both what they’re saying and not saying.
A lifelong student and learner, I hold a bachelor’s in Economics – specialized in Organizational Development –, an Executive MBA and a Masters in Gestalt Psychotherapy. But I originally started my career as a nurse, caring for terminally ill AIDS patients. Seeing how differently people would meet death – whether embracing it having truly lived or facing it begrudgingly with regret – gave me existential insight into the importance of living fully, both personally and professionally.
Whatever the label though, working with people, their well-being and transformation has been the red thread throughout my life. And I’m here to help everyone who wants to disrupt and enrich their lives – transforming through love and laughter – whether as individuals or whole organizations.
What’s your (professional) background?
I have over 30 years’ experience, including 20 in People, Culture and Transformation leadership roles at SAP, Philips and Nordea. Before the corporate world, I served as a nurse in intensive care wards.
What’s your business superpower?
I’m equally passionate about the people at the shop floor – and their ownership and contribution to the business – as I am for the CEO and those on the top floor. All people, wherever they are, hold huge potential.
What’s your secret passion?
If I wasn’t a ‘corporate athlete’, I’d have been a sports one. I’m a passionate cyclist, in love with the ‘click’, indicating the gear shift from small to big ring – letting me accelerate and release more capacity. That ‘click’ signaling to myself and my fellow riders “I’m on! I’m alive and leaning in!”
