Guest lectures

One of the things I do like very much about this Master study is a weekly guest lecture presented by an authority in the field of Imagineering. Last week we welcomed Professor Koen vandenbempt from the university of Antwerp and he guided us into the field of strategic innovation. This week we welcomed Professor Ton de Leeuw, who was teaching till his retirement ,3 years ago, at the University of Groningen. As he pronounced his hobbies still are in the field of Research Methodology and Organizational Change.
To prepare this guest lecture we had to read an academic article with the title “Answers for questions to come: reflective dialogue as an enabler of strategic innovation”. In my humble opinion a tuff paper with lost of words in which the message would have come better across with less words.
After a short personal introduction Mr. Ton de Leeuw guided us through the process how to start your project at the application Company. He emphasized on the ways you can come up with questions. Where does the language from questions come from? We did some practical test with Q&A with a fellow student. During and after the break had had to make an assignment in combination with the prepared article. In small groups we had to raise & formulate questions about the article and how we could use the content in combination with our Application Company. In small group we came up with a model in which we combined the 3 basic blocks of the article: mental maps, reflective dialogue and strategic innovation. We all struggled with the content and set up of the article and it was quite a relieve when Professor de Leeuw told us his personal view on academic articles. "Always try to find your own words in which you can explain the message of the academic article to your grandmother in a way she can understand the raised topic”, he adviced. I was very happy with this approach since I’m quite a practical person with not a great appetite for academic words. Communication is, my background and I always try to find the words through which 'my' audience gets the message. And this is in line with the advice of Professor De Leeuw.

At the end of this interesting day I asked Mr. De Leeuw what he personally thinks about Imagineering. He told us that in the beginning he taught it was a bit vague. Since he’s an engineer he did look for the connection between Imagineering & Engineering, since Imagineering is a composed word. But now after a few years he explains the position of Imagineering by making a comparison between Marketing and Imagineering. A marketing question is: How can I control my client? an Imagineer will ask : How can the client control the organization (or you)? At that time is was already 5 pm, the end of our day at the university.

I like to stop todays contribution to the Imagineering blog with a nice hint from Professor De Leeuw. If you want to relax a second connect to You Tube and get inspired by the Bach Duo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZD8W2nO1lY

after watching….just a sustainable thought….
Looking at this clip I was fantasizing would it be possible to combine this way of playing the ‘piano’ with the cool sustainable dance floor in the Rotterdam Club Watt ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xu7hO7G4n8
and more energy.... Energy generating dance floor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzb3VFi3Sew

… and a co-creation idea ….. yesterday I saw at the 8 o’clock news an item about a new aerobic wave: Zumba. Enjoying the Bach duo clip I was thinking about a combination of Bach on the floor & Zumba. Have a look at Zumba @ San Jose Convention Center http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ziHDH7YV2g

To be continued …