Dirk von Gehlen

Dirk von Gehlen is an author, journalist, and public speaker. A graduate in journalism, he works as “Director of the Think Tank” at the SZ Institute. He not only reflects on new ideas (“A Guide to Being Uncreative,” Rheinwerk 2021), but also puts them into practice: For the Süddeutsche Zeitung, for example, he helped develop the long-form magazine Süddeutsche Zeitung Langstrecke and the Klimafreitag newsletter.

Dirk von Gehlen advocates for a culturally pragmatic approach to the new—and has found the perfect symbol for this in the shruggie ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (“The Principle of Pragmatism,” Piper 2018). He is one of Germany’s crowdfunding pioneers (“A New Version Is Available”) and has been exploring the social consequences of digitalization for years (“Mashup – In Praise of the Copy” and “Meta – The End of the Average”).

As a running columnist for the SZ, he motivates returning runners and beginners to run 42.125 minutes straight. The newsletter spawned two books: *Der Minutenmarathon* was published in spring 2022 as a running guide. *Marathon-Fitness* followed in spring 2023.