Exploreself

🎓 Curious about studying psychology from a psychoanalytic perspective?

Join us for a special online Mini Lecture hosted by IPU Berlin and discover how psychoanalytic thinking can help us understand both individuals and organisations.

📅 Online Mini Lecture with Prof. Christian Sell & Dragan Šimičević

In two inspiring 15-minute talks, you'll get a glimpse into the fascinating world of psychoanalysis, leadership, and organisational dynamics.

🔹 Prof. Christian Sell
*The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Unconscious: A Very Brief Introduction to a Controversial Idea*

What is the unconscious, and why does it continue to shape psychological thinking and practice today?

🔹 Dragan Šimičević
*Navigating the Dynamics: Transference and Countertransference in Leadership*

How do unconscious dynamics influence leadership, relationships, and organisational life?

Following the lectures, there will be a Q&A session where you can ask questions about the presentations, studying psychology at IPU Berlin, and our Master's programmes:

✨ MA Psychology with a Clinical Focus
✨ MA Psychology Focusing on Organisation
✨ MA Leadership und Beratung (Leadership and Consulting)

Whether you're considering a Master's degree or simply interested in psychoanalytic perspectives on people, leadership, and organisations, we would love to welcome you.

📍 Online
🎟 Free participation



Link: https://www.ipu-berlin.de/mini-lecture-2026-studying-psychology-at-ipu-berlin

"The future of leadership may depend less on control and more on the ability to understand the invisible forces that connect people, cultures, and institutions."

Over the past years, I have worked with leaders, teams, and organizations navigating change, conflict, uncertainty, and diversity. Again and again, I have been fascinated by a question:

What shapes leadership beyond competencies, strategies, and formal authority?

This year, as I begin preparing for my PhD journey, I want to explore the intersection of leadership, cultural identity, and psychodynamic processes in organizations.

I am interested in understanding how cultural backgrounds, experiences of belonging, collective memories, and unconscious dynamics influence the way we lead, collaborate, and create organizations.

I believe that leadership is not only about what leaders do. It is also about what they contain, symbolize, and make possible for others.

This is the beginning of a new intellectual journey, and I look forward to sharing ideas, questions, and discoveries along the way.

💬 What invisible forces do you think shape leadership in organizations today?

Very grateful for this inspiring weekend. ✨ IPU Berlin

I had the opportunity to give two mini lectures:
— at the International Career Day on the work of organisational psychologists and the unconscious in organisations
— and at the IPU Open Days on transference and countertransference in leadership.

As much as I enjoyed speaking about psychoanalysis and organisations, I loved the conversations afterwards even more — the curiosity, reflections, discussions, and thoughtful feedback messages and emails I received.

These exchanges are incredibly rewarding. Thankful for everyone who joined, listened, questioned, and shared their thoughts.

🌟 Excited for the upcoming semester! I’m looking forward to teaching studies at several universities, diving into and , and exploring in depth—especially in product development and . I’m also thrilled to delve into cultural psychoanalysis, focusing on consulting within the cultural domain and cultural management. It’s going to be an inspiring journey, and I can’t wait to share this knowledge and learn together with all of you! 📚✨
teaching

This weekend I had the privilege of working with the team of Sonntags-Club in a workshop on collaboration and team development.

At a time when psychosocial counseling services are facing increasing political cuts, spaces like this become even more important. The work of SonntagsClub shows how much dedication, care, and professional commitment is needed to sustain support structures for the LGBTQ+ community. Every day, they offer psychosocial counseling, create opportunities for encounter, and hold a safer space where people can come as they are.

In our workshop we reflected on a simple but demanding question:
How can teams continue to work well together when external pressures and uncertainties increase?

What became visible again is that strong teamwork does not emerge from perfect conditions. It grows from trust, mutual support, open dialogue, and the shared conviction that the work matters.

Despite difficult political circumstances, there was something deeply hopeful in the room: people who remain committed to their mission, who take care of one another, and who continue to create spaces of dignity and belonging for others.

Thank you to this inspiring team for your openness, your courage, and your dedication. It is always a joy to accompany you in your organizational development process.

So proud of my great colleagues who got published in the Humanistic Psychologist. Bravo!

Next weekend I’ll be teaching in a training program on Balint-oriented supervision, focusing on the role of the unconscious in organizations.

I’m genuinely looking forward to working with participants from psychology and medicine. Exploring unconscious dynamics in professional contexts — especially in complex institutional settings — opens up such rich spaces for reflection, responsibility, and deeper understanding.

It will be an inspiring and vibrant group. I’m very much looking forward to it. 📖

💕✨

This week, European theatres gathered to reflect on the future of culture and the performing arts.
It was a privilege to facilitate and guide the strategic 2030 workshop — holding a space where leaders from across Europe could pause, think collectively, and engage in open dialogue about the challenges and possibilities ahead.
In times of rapid social and political change, cultural institutions play a crucial role in shaping public discourse. Creating moments of shared reflection across borders feels more important than ever.
Thankful for the trust and the thoughtful exchange in the room.

❤️