elc – european leadership consulting eG

ELC – European Leadership Consulting eG was founded in 2004 by Insha Holz. The network of ELC consists of freelance consultants who have undergone an intensive training in self-awareness and development, and have many years of individual coaching and group training experience. ELC trainers share their knowledge in different regions and countries through management coaching seminars, with the goal of contributing to a sustainable economy and the potential-development of every individual. ELC’s work focuses on the human person and on building a connection between spirituality and economy.

Biography & Personal Words of the Founder Insha Holz

My Path to Entrepreneurship – Preparation for the Manager Seminar

“Without knowing it, I have prepared myself for a calling to create and pass on a management seminar for the new age.”

In 1984, more than 30 years ago, I finally, after several unsuccessful attempts, became a successful business owner.

How it started:

After I quit high school, much too early, and much to the chagrin of my parents, I began–mostly just to appease them–a conservative apprenticeship. Already, during my apprenticeship, I started a business with some friends, though not knowing much at all about entrepreneurship.

It was like a deep inner desire and a passion that I followed. Of course, it didn’t work out: friends were no longer friends; I got into debt and worked to pay off those debts. I tried starting two more businesses: one, in partnership with friends, and the other, on my own. It was an intense time of teaching and learning in which I navigated my path on the basis of trial and error.

In 1982, I was again an employee. This time, not to pay debts, but in order to enjoy the freedom this job gave me to implement my own ideas. It was a job in that “new age” of the personal computer industry. Here, I taught myself how to sell. My former colleague and I made bets as to who would sell something first to the next customer. And I learned early on that I could only sell something that I also had in-depth knowledge of, was convinced of and enthusiastic about.

The next step was to lead a prosperous business by myself and to use new ideas in a profitable way. This led me to my first real vocation. In 1984, I was given the chance, by fate, to create another business of my own again. This time, I proceeded very cautiously, using my own savings and bearing sole responsibility. I saw it as my chance to import the first computer games to Europe, to market the first mail-order business in the industry, place advertisements in the first computer magazine, and to open the first shop for computer games. The business grew quickly and my first employees in this new endeavor were high school graduates. I realized that I had a knack for working with my employees. All were highly motivated and happy. Consequently, I had to rent more space in the first year of business, and the company’s first annual sales landed at 1 million.

A second store was opened in another city. Sales continued to grow and now came the next learning phase: to negotiate with companies and manufacturers in Germany, England, the USA and Asia. The most important thing for me was honesty: sometimes not easy but always right, I thought. After a period of great growth, when I had a total of eight stores, in eight different cities, a mail order business with 150,000 customers, a wholesale with 1000 dealers, 20 employees and 19 million in yearly sales, my business also experienced a time of loss and decline. I was carried through that time by my dedication to honesty, the love of my staff, and the respect and appreciation of my business partners, through the deepest lows of my business into a new future.

The higher levels of leadership: love, peace, truth and righteousness—which I always carried within me—saved me from losing my company. These principles have always been my foundation. Respect and appreciation for the achievements of my employees and business partners came naturally. Understanding the language of others and finding the right words to use with each individual person were tools of the trade. When the trading business became second nature to me, I focused on the people. When I am doing well, so should you.

My job took on a new form of vocation: people management. When I sold my company in 2000, I received rewards for my leadership, on a human level—through my staff—and as an entrepreneur, on a financial level—through a substantial sales price.

Now, I am living my third calling. Again, it is in the sphere of self-employment. Already in the mid 90s, I began to devote myself to spiritual studies: most importantly, studies of spiritual healing, perception and self-awareness. I experienced the spiritual world and learned to understand and communicate on that level. Once again, I started a company. This work has given rise to:

1. Healing seminars that have successfully established themselves in the market
2. A professional association for healers, which I lead together with my husband, Joshua Tutzer
3. A shamanic school
4. A branch that helps managers who—like me—have the potential to shape leadership in a new way.

This is a way of leadership, which can now take root, in order to make business owners, employees and business partners truly happy and successful. Therefore, we have created the seminar:

Management Through Self-Awareness