James Veenhoff – partner Fronteer Strategy

Who are you & what do you do?

My name is James Veenhoff, I am partner at Fronteer Strategy; I work on brand development and strategy consulting. (I am also the father of Jools Veenhoff)

What’s a verbalizer according to you?

A verbalizer is someone who creates meaning through words, much like how a visualiser does so through a drawing or illustration.

Where can verbalizers add value?

A picture can say more than a thousand words. But sometimes you don’t want a 1000. You want roughly 40, and they should be well-chosen. Especially in situations where concepts are handed over from one team or profession to another, a lot of semantic value and therefore focus and energy can be lost. Think of a strategy team handing over to a creative team, or a designer to a researcher. Many of these people know nothing about words and should not be let near them without the guidance of a verbalizer.

In what way is language part of your work / creative process?

Our mission at Fronteer Strategy is to create clarity and inspiration. Much of this process involves spreading ideas, caught in words.

Put the new verbalizers in the context of our time. why do you think this ‘movement’ starts now?

It’s not hard to see that we’re losing faith in numbers and getting bored with poorly worded crap on powerpoint slides. Much of our time is wasted on semantic discussions and effort spent backtracking or discussion what the objective was in the first place. We unconsciously yearn for well-worded concepts to create meaning for ourselves and partners/stakeholders.

Anything else you would like to add?

Wordsmiths, verbalisers and concept writers deserve more attention.

Any other reference(s) within the framework of The New Verbalizers?

There’s something to think about. when operating in international environments, the meaning of words can be quite complicated territory – let’s say you’re an architect working for a Dubai developer in Malta… The creation of reality requires establishing a shared semantic framework. That’s a challenge for verbalizers. So, an extra skill required is sensitivity to such underlying differences. Great book called ‘The Social Construction of Reality’ – part of my anthropology background could be useful input for thinking about this – if you have the energy:)