Purpose in a BANI World: The LIZ Case

In an interview with Handelsblatt as part of the "Work in Progress" series, I was asked how our working worlds are changing – and why Purpose in a BANI World becomes the decisive anchor. The question inevitably leads me back to the roots of LIZ, the startup I helped build for the Waldmann Group as Chief Digital Business Officer.

For me, the LIZ story is the clearest example of why a precise Purpose decides between success and failure when the world around you fundamentally changes.

2019: A promise against office scarcity

When we conceived LIZ, the year was 2019. Offices were overcrowded, space scarce and expensive. Our original value proposition was geared to optimising that scarcity.

Then came 2020. COVID brought a radical reversal. Suddenly offices were empty. Many startups around us began to wobble because their business models were tied to physical presence in the office.

LIZ stayed in the market. Why?

The operating system for hybrid worlds

Because we had defined our "Why" more deeply from the start. We were not a desk-booking tool. We were the operating system for modern office use.

This clear core allowed us to respond to entirely new requirements without losing our identity. As hybrid work became the standard and employees no longer knew whether colleagues would be in the office at all, we had the answer. As desk sharing raised the question of where, in a flexible setup, the first aider or fire warden actually sits, we had the solution. As companies wanted to make sure that the trip to the office was worth it because there you would find the collaboration and exchange you were looking for, we had the tool.

The "What" of our product changed several times between 2019 and 2022. The "Why" stayed stable. And that is what kept LIZ in the market while others disappeared.

In my article on the Purpose workshop at Lichtvision I describe how Simon Sinek's "Start with Why" can also be applied to mature organisations. The LIZ story shows the other side: how a precise "Why" carries a startup, from day one, through a crisis no one could have foreseen.

BANI: why the world no longer fits the old models

For a long time the acronym VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) described the challenges of modern leadership. American futurist Jamais Cascio introduced a new model in 2018 that, for many leaders today, captures the reality more accurately: BANI.

Brittle: systems that look strong on the outside but are rotten inside and suddenly collapse under pressure. Anyone who has watched supply chains, energy supply or labour markets in recent years knows this pattern.

Anxious: the feeling that every decision could trigger a disaster. This anxiety drives leaders into passivity or into hectic activism.

Non-linear: small causes, massive effects. A virus in Wuhan changes the global world of work. A container ship in the Suez Canal halts supply chains. Cause and effect no longer relate in any predictable way.

Incomprehensible: events and decisions that elude rational explanation. More information does not lead to more understanding; on the contrary, the noise increases.

Cascio stresses that BANI is not a model of doom. In his new book Navigating the Age of Chaos (2025) he describes BANI+ as a counter-model: brittleness is met by being Bendable, anxiety by being Attentive, non-linearity by neuro-flexibility, the incomprehensible by being Interconnected.

In a BANI world, classic five-year plans no longer hold. What gives leaders and organisations purchase instead is a precise Purpose.

Purpose in a BANI World: three functions

From my experience with LIZ and from my coaching work with leaders, a clear Purpose serves three functions in uncertain times.

The first is orientation in chaos. When external circumstances change radically – through a pandemic, a recession, a technology leap – the "Why" stays stable while "What" and "How" must adapt. At LIZ we could realign the product several times because the core was clear. Without that core we would have had to start from scratch with every market shift.

The second is decision support. In my article on the Circle of Influence I describe Stephen Covey's distinction between what we can influence and what merely concerns us. A clear Purpose acts as a filter: it reduces options to those that fit the core mission. In a BANI world where possibilities are confusingly numerous and consequences unpredictable, this filter is vital.

The third is identity for teams. In hybrid structures, where people work in different places and at different times, they need a shared identity that goes beyond the physical location. Purpose provides that identity. It answers the question "Why are we a team?" in a way that works regardless of whether you are in the office, at home or on another continent.

A prompt for you

Have you defined a Purpose for your area or your team that is stable enough to survive even a total market reversal? Or is your target picture too tightly tied to current conditions?

If you cannot answer this question with conviction, that is not a failure. It is a beginning. Precision in the "Why" is not a philosophical luxury. It is the prerequisite for resilience in a BANI world.

Further reading

• Jamais Cascio on the BANI framework – Background on Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible.
• Simon Sinek: Start with Why (Portfolio 2009) – Foundational work on purpose-driven leadership.
• Handelsblatt interview "Work in Progress" with Thomas Knoop (YouTube) – Real-world example of purpose work at LIZ.