Meet:

Johan Veneman

Founder, Head of Imagination

BACKGROUND

Policy researcher, Trainer, Coach, Team leader, Board member

UPDATE

Legal Public Administration, RET certification, Schouten and Nelissen business school, Co-Active Coaching training, Rozenbrood Trend Academy  

HAS WORKED WITH

Essent, Bijenkorf, Municipality of Almere, FD Mediagroep, PON, McDonalds

photo by Johan Veeneman

UPDATE

Legal Public Administration, RET certification, Schouten and Nelissen business school, Co-Active Coaching training, Rozenbrood Trend Academy  

HAS WORKED WITH

Essent, Bijenkorf, Municipality of Almere, FD Mediagroep, PON, McDonalds

We are for real

What you see is what you get, I will always say to you if you have toothpaste on your face or your fly still open. I have found that many of the issues within (executive) teams can be reduced to 'small' personal things: "Do I feel seen or heard, do I feel at home?" Often these are concealed behind substantive and strategic issues, but if we don't get to the heart of the matter, we won't move forward. 

We are of the wall

At all the previous organisations I have worked at, I always felt like a bit of an odd duck, Mind Work Productions is the first place that feels like home. I can be myself here, my colleagues can laugh at my moralism regarding wrongly parked bikes, I can sing along to bad songs and have lunch discussions about whether DJs are musicians or not. Mind Work Productions feels like a motley crew of beautiful and special characters making an impact and I feel like a fish in the water.

We innovate for tomorrow

I can't think of anything but new things. My brain works completely associatively, turning on when I wake up and not turning off until I go to sleep. My business partner and co-founder Kas regularly goes crazy about me being an idea factory, but we have found a nice interaction, in which I deliver concepts, a few are sure to die and he brings some concepts to full maturity.

We float like a butterfly and sting like a bee

I was brought up in a family where there were never arguments, just enthusiastic exchanges of views. That stinging comes fairly naturally to me. I find as a counsellor or as a coach not to shy away from uncomfortable situations, because this discomfort always moves you forward. That floating is about being able to sting only when your intentions are trusted. That balance between confronting and creating a safe bed is really deep in our culture.

We score without compromises

I think we owe it to our clients to ensure results together. In this, I am quite stubborn; over the past few years, through trial and error, I have learned what preconditions are needed to ensure together that development does not just cost money, but is a worthwhile investment. As I get older, I find that it takes me less and less effort to really stand up for these preconditions and be each other about what we can (and also cannot) do.