Introduction - Why is this animation there and what is it about?

 

To tell you some stories about myself

The first reason is to tell you a series of stories. And, I am aware that I don’t know all the implicit storyline connections that exist within the animation.

Partly this has to do with the subject of the animation: that is me, Ger Jonkergouw and the diversity and complexity of my professional environment as well as my way of working and thinking. This complexity sometimes dazzles myself. The animation, in other words, is a sort of desperate attempt to summarise and integrate the key dimensions of relationships within my thinking and acting in today’s world.

But the storybook is far from completed yet.

 

To demonstrate the power of visual dialogue

The great advantage of a visual and narrative communication tool like an animation is that it combines all sorts of aspects (emotions, concepts, colours, forms, metaphors, movements, etc.) into one, more or less comprehensive context. It does tell several things in a clear way, has even more hidden and symbolic layers, and in the end is dynamic as it has the potential for totally new meaning, to be created by our own imagination.

 

I strongly believe in the inspiring communicative power of this sort of visual messages. It can be rich and transparent, complex as well as simple, both symbolic and factual.

In fact, exploring the visual dimensions of dialoguing is one of the key themes in my work over the past 20 years. In that sense the form of an animation constitutes part of my message.

But at the same time, it is only one half the message. It is meant to become part of a dialogue. And in dialogues you don’t have parts, but partners. So, another partner is required, which could be you!

 

You are invited to respond to this animated story, e.g. by telling me what it does to you, what questions it raises, what connections might be made, whether it inspires you, or ….

In principle I respond to personal messages within 2 working days. So, lets see whether we can develop a sort of interactive dialogue!

 

To connect different perspectives on the content of client relations

One more reason for including this animation in the website is in the fact that I work with clients from rather different perspectives. The starting points for new professional relationships often vary a lot.

Some examples:

 

o         Consulting boards of directors (groups and organisations) about strategic repositioning, organisational change and/or leadership development

o         Improving the power of creative thinking (imagination)

o         Learn how to deal with cultural differences of individuals and teams

o         Personal development through one-to-one coaching, mentoring and counselling (interaction)

o         Writing about societal issues (like the theme of ‘the Future of Management and Leadership in Europe’)

o         How does our brain function, how does the mind interact with emotions and the body. This, altogether, constitutes the ‘Self’ (brain & mind & body & emotions). The relationship between the self/soul and the ego furthermore is a key theme in working on leadership

o         Reflections about philosophical issues (like the Art of Connecting, dealing with Complexity, or the role of the Arts and Creativity in Innovation)

o         Combining the heavy with the light: In most cases the issues that I deal with in my professional life have a rather heavy under- or overtone: it is about challenges for individuals, teams and organisations to go through serious change, to break through stagnation. For sure, this requires close commitment and hard work. On the other hand, this also requires the power to keep distance, to remain ‘light’ and let things go in order to not get lost in the process myself. So, although the subjects in the animation are serious the playful form signals that I try to combine both.

 

New contacts, to my experience, start at one or a few of the above aspects. Then, other angles and lenses start moving in, merge with other layers, shift focus of the activities, create new patterns of interaction and that way alter and deepen the relationship.

This makes it somewhat unpredictable what exactly we are working on, what the relationship is about, or what precisely will be the outcome of the project.

 

Maybe such diversity is confusing? Maybe, but I prefer such somewhat mysterious but in any case rich dynamic. And I prefer it above a static and simple reduction to simple ´services´ or ´products´.

The animation was created to give you a feeling that is closely related to this, in the end, coherent complexity.

 

What then is this animation about?

In the above statements some sort of first vague impression about what is meant with the animation is revealed? Nevertheless, there are also clear themes that more or less constitute the basic scenes in the animation. These are titled with the following concepts: - the brain, - the mind, - the self (mind-body-emotions), - interaction, - the group, - the organisation, - society, - imagination and - the art of connecting. In a later version of the site these scenes or layers will step by step be explained.

 

A living thing - starting small, then growing

I have found out that it is impossible to load the website fully from the beginning. The fact of having created the animation brings so many new ideas and thoughts, that I will need time to explore and describe my discoveries in more detail.

This makes the overall website, and not just the animation, into a sort of learning space. Moreover, as is mentioned in the first Blog article (October 7^th, 2005), this website is not a static sort of book or brochure. It’s a living thing that starts small and eventually may grow into something that cannot be foreseen yet!

In any case I will try to avoid to make it into a garbage can or dumping place for dead ideas and experiences!

 

By the way, the animation of course was not created alone by myself. Although I have been pondering about the idea for several years, it was just in a fast and close interaction with a young web designer, called Corné van Dooren, that the current form emerged. In a reasonable short time the ideas and designs flashed up and down between him and me, and have resulted in the ´thing´ that you have just seen. (www.cornevandooren.com).

 

The Art of Connecting?

Well, at the end, just before you see me again, the animation shows some planets disappearing into a brain with the word ‘Imagination’, finally going over into ‘the Art of Connecting’. In a next step I will give a much more elaborate description of what I mean by the  ‘Art of Connecting’, as this concept has become key in my current work.

 

For the moment I will say no more than you probably already have understood yourself through the animation: we live in a highly scattered world. Scattered in the sense of relationships (from local to global), in the sense of identity, meaning, processes, politics, communication, cultures, religions, organisations etc.

Every place I come seems full of shatter. Even worse, there is a tendency to increase the level of fragmentation. It is my observation that many people and organisations have lost their competence to integrate ‘their world’ into a comprehensive and trusted environment.  Such desired integration cannot be accomplished with the help of just a technical tool, some special glue, or whatever other simple approach to (re)connection. This is a complicated area! Therefore, it is my idea that it requires a special sort of Art. The Art of Connecting. And the animation demonstrates the various aspects of life that I think need to be connected.

 

What am ‘I’ doing at the end of the animation?

The funny thing is that once a form has been created, it starts living its own life. So, I am partly wondering myself what I am doing there. However, I have some notions about what it could mean that I am standing and moving there:

o         Showing my good mood, while dancing on a square inch

o         Mumbling thoughts that only will be clarified in a direct contact

o         I could be waiting impatiently for your response!