Cofound Sidenotes // Entry No. 1
They say the future doesn’t arrive on schedule. It seeps in, quietly, in small shifts: what people expect of work, the architecture of organisations, the friction between promise and practice. At Cofound, we’ve been watching those shifts — not from the outside, but at the seams — and we believe something real, something different, is emerging.
Market & Organisational Landscape: What We’re Seeing
Organisations today are trying to be many things at once: agile, digitally enabled, socially responsible, human‑centred. But often the change is superficial — new titles, new tools, meetings about culture, without the deeper work of designing how things truly function.
There is growing tension between old structural models (rigid hierarchies, command & control) and new demands (distributed teams, transparency, autonomy). Leaders want speed. Teams want meaning. The marketplace wants innovation, but also ethics.
On the wider socio‑economic front: uncertainty is now baseline. Inflation, climate concerns, changing work norms (remote/hybrid, gig-economy, asynchronous work), rising expectations around inclusive leadership, purpose, belonging — these are no longer fringe concerns. They shape how people choose who to work for, what organisations rise or fall, what innovations take root.
The OD‑Infused “Truths” Beneath the Surface
When we talk about Organisational Development (OD) in its richer sense — not just efficiency or structure, but systems, relationships, meaning, human potential — some truths become evident:
Culture is not a soft add‑on. It’s architecture. It’s embedded in routines, decision paths, power flows. Changing the culture without attending to the infrastructure (meetings, feedback loops, whose voice matters) is like repaving the road but ignoring the foundation.
Small experiments matter. Real transformation arises when we allow hypothesis, trial, feedback, learning. The “safe to try, safe to fail” ethos is not just nice‑to‑have — it’s essential in volatile, complex environments.
Relational intelligence is strategic. How people feel — seen, heard, trusted — matters for performance, innovation, retention. OD frameworks that neglect the relational dimension are brittle.
Purpose, not just profit. Organisations that orient around just financial metrics miss what people are increasingly demanding: alignment between personal values and organisational mission; meaning in the work; coherence in values and actions.
Philosophical Underpinnings
At its core, change is about becoming. About emergence. Philosophically, there’s resonance with ideas like becoming over being (heraclitean flux), praxis (practice+reflection), and systems thinking (whole > sum of parts). What if organisations were not monuments but living organisms? What if leadership isn’t top‑down but mutual, distributed, emergent?
There’s also a tension: stability vs change. Identity vs adaptation. How do you hold what is precious while being open to what wants to grow? How do you resist both rigid inertia and superficial “change theater”?
The Problem We See
Many organisations are trying to change. But:
They get stuck in half‑measures: new tools, consultants, workshops, but not structural or relational follow‑through.
They mistake activity for impact: doing the “sustainability report,” or a DEI workshop, but not re‑rethinking power, voice, decision‑making.
They underinvest in the internal work: developing leaders who can hold paradox, creating feedback loops, designing for psychological safety.
They lose coherence: purpose statements that never connect to daily practice; brand promises that feel hollow.
This leads to burnout, cynicism, attrition, losing the bright people, not keeping up with external change, or being outpaced by those who do the deeper work.
Why Cofound Exists
Here’s our why: because we believe organisations can be different. Because we believe the invisible architecture— culture, relationships, power, purpose — deserves attention equal to structure, process, and KPI’s. Because we’ve seen the gap between what many aspire to, and what many settle for, and we don’t want to settle.
We founded Cofound to work in those seams: offering a boutique, high‑intent practice that helps people, teams, organisations see clearly what’s hidden; experiment faithfully; and build with integrity. Not top-down, not templated, not mass‑produced. But real, handcrafted, tuned to the specific tensions and potentials of each organisation.
In this moment, the world needs more organisations that don’t just chase change, but embody it. That don’t just promise meaning, but practice it. That understand that sustainable futures are built by weaving together what is technical, structural, relational, emotional, philosophical. That’s what Cofound aims to be part of.
