When Workspaces Become Living Spaces
Interview with Peter Erhardt, Managing Director, and Markus Sulz, Managing Director of Leonhard GmbH
With a laptop on the beach? Unthinkable years ago, it’s still not the standard today, but it’s a lived reality. With digitalization, the world of work has fundamentally changed. Home office, co-working spaces, and digital nomadism characterize New Work. For Leonhard GmbH from Stuttgart, offices are primarily living spaces: rooms for ideas and creativity, places of home.
Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Sulz, Mr. Erhardt, Leonhard GmbH trades in furniture, sets up offices, and does much more. What is the difference from the traditional office and contract furnishing provider?
Markus Sulz: The company was founded in 1987 and already embraced the slogan 'Ideas for Life. Space.Office.' 15 years ago. Peter Erhardt brought this slogan with him when he came to Stuttgart as an investor; it matched my personal mindset excellently. Today, we are called Leonhard Living Space Office. Back then, that was historical in this very traditional industry. We made a sidestep in perception and did not limit ourselves to just furniture, but said that it's about more, that society will change. For us, it was about themes like wellbeing at work and connecting competences; we aimed to find, retain, and develop talents and create multifunctional spaces. Then the camping theme came up; we had the idea to acquire a T1, an iconic, multifunctional minibus. We wanted to create something similarly multifunctional and iconic with working environments. We wanted to be pioneers, encouragers, and trendsetters. The skepticism was significant, and many smiled at these ideas.
Peter Erhardt: At that time, images of people with laptops on the beach, working from anywhere, first appeared. We were convinced that mobile working could be a part of the future.
Wirtschaftsforum: And they were right. The office as a living space became the maxim of Leonhard. How was it filled with content?
Markus Sulz: It was clear to us that we wouldn't find employees, co-creators, helpers, colleagues, co-initiators by merely selling furniture. We wanted to find people who shared our mindset and believed in changing work. Based on our theses, we developed our own company with interesting people behind it. We managed to make customers come to us not to buy furniture, but because they want to hear stories about the topic of New Work. We are one of the originals in Germany, evolved 10, 15 years ago from a team of rebels. And we are once again at a historic moment. On 01/01/2023, we will merge with one of our market competitors, the Kist Gruppe, to combine forces and position ourselves as market and thematic leaders in the design, development, and implementation of working environments in the German-speaking area.
Wirtschaftsforum: How will the merger affect things?
Peter Erhardt: We will grow from currently 50 to between 150 and 170 employees and generate a turnover of about 70 million EUR. In addition, there will be locations throughout Germany where our idea of the office as a living space will be further developed. International locations are also conceivable. The merger is driven by the vision to evolve into a sustainable organization so that the ideas and visions for which Leonhard stands will continue to endure.
Markus Sulz: Currently, there is one location at the Stuttgart airport; from 01.01.2023, there will be seven more locations, also in major metropolitan areas, even closer to our customers.
Wirtschaftsforum: The topic of New Work is ubiquitous. How do you experience and live this topic?
Markus Sulz: We are currently experiencing an epochal upheaval in the economy, standing at the end of the performance economy and feeling the beginning of the creative economy. The symbiosis of work and life is at the forefront. For us, this means, among other things, that we accompany customers early and until the end, from analysis through planning to implementation and lifecycle management. We want to be motivators and take people along to further develop workplaces entrepreneurially.
Peter Erhardt: Our portfolio with our strategic partners such as Steelcase, Vitra, Palmberg, Bene, Brunner, USM and many more is unique in terms of quality and innovativeness. Initially, a tactile product was the focus; today it is a solution. In the future, we may also develop spaces for the metaverse, digital spaces. Something completely new may arise, which we will help shape with great passion. We warmly invite you to visit us in one of our Worklabs and discover how workspaces and workplaces are evolving today and in the future!