Explore the book · The Human Map
The Human Map – Lead people with clarity, not guesswork.
The Human Map is a practical field manual for leaders who are tired of buzzwords and want teams that actually work. It gives you a clear, visual way to understand how people think, how they collide, and how you can turn that friction into focus, trust and results.
Built from real work with small and mid-sized teams, practices and organizations under pressure – for leaders who need tools that survive everyday reality, not just slides.
About the book
What is The Human Map?
The Human Map is a simple but powerful way to look at the people in your team, the way they think, and the way work really flows through your organization. Instead of abstract models, you get a concrete, visual language that helps you see patterns, name conflicts and make better decisions faster.
Whether you lead three people or thirty, this book shows you how to turn personalities, skills and hidden agendas into a map you can actually navigate. No corporate jargon. No empty motivation. Just tools you can use on Monday morning.
- Clarify roles and expectations without endless meetings.
- Handle conflict like a professional – precise, calm, honest.
- Connect strategy and everyday behavior in one picture.
Who The Human Map is written for
You lead a small to mid-sized team.
A practice, startup, department or NGO where people are close, pressure is real and there is no time for theory that collapses after the workshop. You need language and tools that fit real days, not ideal slides.
You built something – now it is complex.
Old routines no longer scale, new people join, and you feel stuck between “being nice” and “being clear”. The Human Map helps you see where your system supports you – and where it quietly fights you.
You sit between people and expectations.
You are tired of repeating the same instructions, managing emotions and still not getting the results you want. You need a way to talk about behavior without shaming people – and still move things forward.
Inside the framework
What you will take away from The Human Map.
The Human Map is built around four central questions every leader must answer again and again: Who are my people? How do we work? Where are we stuck? And what needs to change – today?
- 1 · Map yourself. Understand your own behavior under pressure: how you decide, how you avoid conflict, what your team can always rely on – and what drives them crazy.
- 2 · Map your team. See where your people complement each other and where they collide. Turn vague complaints into clear patterns you can actually work with.
- 3 · Map your work. Look at meetings, projects and decisions through the lens of human behavior. Identify where energy leaks – and how to redesign your everyday routines.
- 4 · Map your next moves. Move from “we should” to concrete experiments. Small, disciplined changes that compound over time into culture, performance and trust.
Bausteine mit System – what you gain as a reader
A shared picture of what is really happening.
You stop asking “Who is the problem?” and start seeing “What is the pattern?”. The Human Map gives you visuals and language you can use with your own people – in leadership meetings, one-to-ones and project reviews.
Words for what you always felt.
You get precise, non-dramatic language for tension, overload and trust issues. You can talk about hard things without humiliating people – and keep talking after the book is closed.
Concrete experiments, not wishlists.
The book invites you to design small experiments in meetings, boundaries, decision rules and rhythms. Changes you can test within weeks – not vague “culture goals” five years from now.
About the author
Michael Kirschberger – quiet, analytical, system-focused.
Michael Kirschberger is the creator of The Human Map – a leadership framework grounded in real teams, real pressure and real constraints. For more than a decade he has worked with leaders, entrepreneurs and small organizations who want to grow without burning people out.
His work combines organizational psychology, systems thinking and the everyday reality of meetings, politics and limited attention. The Human Map distills this work into one clear, practical book you can use without a consultant in the room.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a management background to use The Human Map?
No. The Human Map is written in clear, direct language. If you are responsible for people and results – as a founder, team lead, practice owner or project manager – you can use it. You will not need an MBA or HR department to make it work.
Is this another personality test or typology?
No. The Human Map is not a test and does not put people into boxes. It gives you a language to describe behavior in context – in this team, with this pressure, under these constraints. It is about patterns and choices, not fixed labels.
Can I apply it with a small team?
Yes. The framework was designed for small real-world teams: 3 to 25 people, often under time and budget pressure. You will find concrete examples for workshops, one-to-ones and everyday conversations.
How does the book connect to seminars or the podcast?
The book is the foundation. It gives you the core ideas, language and tools. Seminars and the Human Map podcast build on that foundation with live cases, exercises and stories from real organizations.
“ I work as a veterinarian with a relatively small team. I am always looking for ideas to make our work more efficient without burning people out. The Human Map was exactly what I needed – practical, honest, and written by someone who knows that real life does not happen in PowerPoint. ”
Start your Human Map conversation with one book.
If you sense that something in your team is out of balance – but you cannot quite describe it – The Human Map is built for exactly that moment. It turns intuition into a shared picture and a practical way of leading under real pressure.
Read it alone, work with it in your leadership team, or use it as a basis for a Human Map seminar later. The important step is to see your system clearly.