do the real work
You’ve followed the experts, perhaps even consider yourself one.
You’ve done the courses. Tried a few “solutions.” Maybe even joined a group or two.
But underneath it all, you know:We need to think differently, act differently, and be different — or nothing real will change.And because you know we’re part of a living world, you get that we need to think and act in ways that are coherent with that — with the complex dynamics of life itself.You simply haven’t had the opportunity to do that yet.That’s where I come in as your coach — to walk with you as you learn to live, lead, and act from life’s fundamental intelligence, closer to source than you will readily find elsewhere.
what informed this
"Our economic system can't produce human flourishing because it simply doesn't have the required attributes"
In 2020, while working on a national resiliency project in Aotearoa New Zealand, I had a clear realization:
our economic system is structurally incapable of supporting life.This clicked when I contrasted its logic with nRhythm’s living systems framework. It confirmed what I had long suspected — during my time at a startup that offshored production, through MBA recruiting that felt soulless, and as I burned out post-MBA in consulting.The problem wasn’t effort. It was worldview.Because this knowledge wasn’t readily available, I began PhD research to build a usable, academically grounded living systems framework. But academia, too, rejected the ontology and epistemology that life requires.So I returned to coaching — to work with people who are ready to develop the seldomly held consciousness and capabilities to act from life’s logic.Not just to do more. But to become coherent with life — and propagate that coherence into the world, directly and through the groups and organizations they are a part of.
what this is in practice
This is about learning to act from the intelligence of life itself.Not fixing.
Not performing.
Not packaging yourself to fit a broken system.This is different from what you’ve encountered before — and what you’ll find elsewhere.
It combines guidance rooted in the body of knowledge that matters, and coaching to do hard things: things you haven’t done before, that people around you aren’t doing yet, and that the market doesn’t currently incentivize.When we work together, we create space for something deeper to emerge — for you to become more coherent with the living world, and more able to act from that coherence.We’ll develop:
- A grounded understanding of living systems logic — what life actually requires to thrive
- A felt sense of when something is aligned, generative, and coherent
- The internal shift from diagnosing problems to participating in generation
- Your ability to translate insight into aligned, creative, real-world actionCoaching with me is through dialogue - conversational, reflective, and alive.
It’s not formulaic.
It’s not performative.
It’s a space for deep re-patterning, and for the clarity and capability that emerge from it. I will invite the required difference in how you know yourself, your context, and the systems you are a part of. You will become a seed, that nurtures, and propagates context changing difference informed by the source of life out into the world definitionally in the direction of flourishing. You and the groups and organizations you are a part of will become more effective, healthy, and contributing.1:1 Sessions are 1+ hours in duration and hosted on Zoom (or in-person when possible).
They are offered on a sliding scale — accessible for individuals with low income and appropriate for corporate organizations. Cadence and duration are matched to the intensity of your project and development, with weekly sessions over three-month periods being typical.
foundational awareness
Before we can act differently, we have to see differently.
The work begins by developing a new awareness — of what’s really happening, why our systems can’t deliver what life needs, and what it means to become coherent with the logic of living systems.
As we begin work together, the following are the kinds of shifts in perception we’ll invite. They aren’t abstract beliefs — they’re material recognitions.
1. Awareness of Widespread Degeneration 🧨:
- The world is not flourishing; it is in fact degenerating, as evidenced by ecological, social, and systemic breakdowns.
- Most humans aspire for flourishing as they define it, but the dominant systems are not enabling it.
2. Reframing Flourishing 🌱:
- Flourishing, definitionally, means humans living in sufficient, reciprocal relationship with the living world.
- Most humans’ development hasn’t included the practical knowledge or consciousness of how to live in this way.
3. Recognition of Current Contribution to Degeneration 🪞:
- I am contributing to degeneration in some way through my actions, work, or participation in current systems.
Click the "Logic (cont)" button below to explore the full 10 shifts in perception.
mark kroening
"I am bringing more life into the world"
I’ve had enough of the bullshit — the delusion, the fictional storytelling, the ineffective action passed off as progress, the distraction, the absence of fundamental understanding of how the living world actually works. I’m here to bring the thoughtfulness, humility, compassion, and patience that this work truly requires.I am dedicated to bringing life and truth into the world by developing living systems consciousness, building the capabilities that support it, and guiding people toward living systems-informed action that fosters flourishing. I help individuals and organizations apply systemic approaches to their growth as an advisor, coach, and collaborator. The living systems framework underpinning this work was developed during my PhD research in economics, drawing on universal patterns that support transformation and flourishing. My executive coach training through Columbia University further equips me to support you in unlocking potential and expanding awareness.My career spans strategy consulting at McKinsey & Company, corporate sustainability advising, and leadership in engineering and manufacturing. I hold an MBA and Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Auckland. I embrace adventure—having raced a half marathon in all 50 U.S. states and DC, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and competed in world-class yacht racing events—and bring this same spirit of endurance and exploration to this work.
testimonials
"Mark brings a unique and original perspective to regenerative practice, combining deep insight with a genuine commitment to supporting others. His approach is refreshingly grounded, never
performative or expert-driven, and rooted in a real dedication to systems change." - Bryce
Henney, reRoot Collaborations
"Working with Mark has consistently shifted my perspective in powerful ways. Through the lens of living systems, he's helped me see new patterns, broader possibilities, and discover principles for cultivating greater flourishing for myself and those I serve." - Benji Ross,
Awakening Lands
"Mark travels the path of reality-seeking how life truly works, and how we might still flourish within it. I highly value his coaching support and wisdom." - Grant Symons, Founder, SWITCH-
Platform
"Mark brings years of deep research in living systems thinking, weaving together the most robust theories and frameworks from across the field. His approach is integrative and grounded, yet expansive — he has a rare ability to ask questions that lift you out of the immediate challenges and help you see them as part of a larger, nested whole. If you're building a new project, team, or organization and want to design it for long-term resilience, adaptability, and regenerative impact, Mark is the guide you want by your side. He doesn't just help you map what you're creating — he helps you align it with the living systems it touches, ensuring your work contributes to something greater. This is the kind of investment that pays itself forward for generations." - Miriam Thom, Executive Director, Institute of Natural Law
"Our team has worked extensively with Mark, with tremendous results not just in how we execute day-to-day, but how we identify, characterize, and pursue opportunities in the context of our organization's mission, the economic ecosystem, and the world as a whole." - Tom Law, Founder & Engineer, Oak
"With alacrity and ease, I have found Mark Kroening’s work to provide a spacious pattern for the emergence of awareness in living systems. With his care and capacity, he invites a new view of how Nature is moving through us. Mark’s living systems approach offers exactly what we need now—a framework that honors the biological wisdom we are part of, recognizing that flourishing life can only come forth through coherence in the system we belong to. His work provides organizations in transition with new stories about what matters, opening pathways to kaleidoscopic capacity and meaningful transformation. In a time when we’re learning that our planet and bodies need deep care, Mark’s approach guides us back to the living world system that is our access point to cosmos itself." - Allie Middleton, Poet and Founder
schedule a call
Use Calendly to book a call with me, whether it's your first introductory call (gratis) or your twelfth weekly session. We’ll start with a conversation to get clear on what you’re sensing, what you’re up against, and whether this kind of work is right for you.
collaborativism
"Because we can't do it alone"
collaborativism is the name I gave this domain back in 2014, sensing even then that neither capitalism nor socialism — nor any of the old isms — could bring about the world we need. If humanity is to have a future, it will come from learning to work together, in coherence with life.For now, this is the name of my coaching practice — and the container for what is emerging.
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