Philosophy
The leitmotif of the I.N.F. is inspiration. We consider this to be the stimulus for others to create something new, and we pursue this goal through our own striving for excellence, even though we are aware of our limitations. It is exactly this awareness that underlies our understanding of qualitative counselling. We choose authenticity over pretence. Therefore, we endorse our striving for excellence with trust in ourselves and in our relationships with our partners and clients, relationships that are based on openness and professionalism. Through our knowledge of our own limits, we live diversity and cooperation across borders in the sense of mutual development. In this way, inspiration is understood as the opposite of one-way thinking, namely as interaction with our environment. We use this inspiration for continuous development and the pursuit of excellence. Inspiration gives rise to the extraordinary. That is what we aim to be!
The most important part of the foundation of I.N.F. is inspiration. Carrying this forward represents an essential part of the company. We therefore take active part in both conferences and lectures in order to connect science to practice and to live common progress.
Head of the Institute
The Institute is headed by Karl Testor, a leadership and neuroscientist looking back upon many years of leadership in the Austrian Armed Forces. Thus, he created a synergy of his scientific and entrepreneurial work, ranging from the development of military leaders at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt (Lower Austria) and mentoring of top executives to basic scientific research. The focus was on leadership excellence and the question of how new things can emerge. Following this interest, Karl Testor found inspiration in Giselher Guttmann, one of the pioneers of scientific psychology and a pundit of neuroscience. The common passion for basic research that is open to application, the potential of the open mind and the commitment to making new paths possible were the key concepts that augured the founding of the I.N.F. As a practitioner, Karl Testor is keen to translate theory into the kind of practice that is oriented towards company-specific needs. This he has demonstrated in his work as a consultant in a wide range of fields, in his teaching at various technical colleges and universities, in the development of study courses, and in his international experience.