Why Red Monkey Company?

Missioning not only brings focus but also has to bring the energy to learn and innovate to an organization. It is not written, it is grown. It is not fixed, it evolves. It is not a sentence, it is a story. It is the dream of an entrepreneur of what can be.

As the founder of Red Monkey Company it took me many years to grown this mission. It didn’t start with a business plan. Business plans are ok if you want to bring something that works into ‘operation’ … the moment you can calculate the costs and the possible revenue. The moment you can find ‘Investors’. The ‘easy’ way … 8-)

Red Monkey Company started with an idea or dream that evolved into a ‘portfolio’. It took me 20 years to ‘cross’ the period between idea and portfolio. It was the result of a quest driven by passion: What boosts ‘Real Learning’? What kills ‘Disruptive Innovation'? Reasons & Solutions?

It was a puzzle where I had to bring all elements together at the right time and at the right place. Finally I found or developed all the needed pieces and now the puzzle is ‘complete’ to share it with ‘some’.

Jef Staes

The Quest

To really understand the ‘why’ behind Red Monkey Company you have to understand the ‘Birth of a Quest’ …

Software Designer

I started to work as a software designer in 1979. First I worked on analog telephone switches but in 1983 I was lucky to be able to work on the first generation of digital telephone switches. For me it was a mind opener. For the first time in history, computers became fast enough to process voice as digital samples. I worked for 2 years in Phoenix Arizona. The first personal computers and soo much more entered the world. After that, computer speed increased and networks became faster and faster. Internet claimed its ground.

Open Learning Center

In 1986 I lost my passion in software development and after a period of project management I found my passion again. I became responsible for one of the first Open Learning Centers within a company. Computer Based Learning, Video Production and understanding what learning really is became my quest. One of the projects we did was knowledge transfer between Siemens Munich and Belgium. A new era for telephony started … Mobile Telephony. I still remember the resistance Mobile Telephony met the moment it was introduced.

During that period I was also responsible for doing the technical hiring interviews. For me it became clear that new recruits with the ‘right diplomas’ but with no passion in what they had studied or had to learn, it became nearly impossible to remain valuable@work.

Training Manager

I started to realize that the impact of managers on the learning power of individuals and organizations is hugely underestimated and my passion shifted to management development. In 1990 I became a Training Manager responsible for personal development and management development. For me it was a completely new world. I still remember working in Human Resources Management. It was dramatic. My background was digital. As a software designer and starting an Open Learning Center I realized that something essential was missing in Human Resources Management: System Thinking.

Again and again I was confronted with short term solutions but never ever I sensed the willingness to embrace system thinking to find the real ‘design errors’ in organizational cultures. For 6 years I was president of a local Training & Development Association and again I realized the same. Trainers and consultants deliver short term solutions because that’s what their clients ask for.

In 1999, I wrote my first book : Het Herexamen van een Managementgeneratie (Dutch Only). In this book I described why most managers are not able to manage and what competences managers should have to boost learning and innovation in teams and organizations. The content was the result of system thinking and almost 10 years of experience in management development.

I’m not going to list all the conflicts I got into but in 1999 I was ready to find another employer that was more open to system thinking in my passion: Organizational Development.

Corporate Learning Officer

Around 2000 an opportunity arose. The organization I still worked for got interested in following question: What could be the impact of e-learning and knowledge management on our organization? With all my passion and experience I became responsible for that project. 2 years we worked on a strategy to become a learning organization … and in these 2 years the resistance to change increased and increased. The resistance came from managers, trainers, consultants, Human Resources Management and even executives. In 2002, I realized it was not going to work. The only reward I got was stress and what we today call … a burnout.

Independent > Author > Keynote Speaker

I decided to become independent in 2002. But now I realize that without previous ‘fall’ … I would never have understand the complexity of culture transformation. This experience gave me the insights to write 3 other books: My Organization is a Jungle (2007) - My Manager is a Hero (2009) - I was a Sheep (2011). If you ever want to start with a culture transformation project … first read these books. They will give you insight, not only in the challenges but also the possible solutions for these challenges. Don’t let the dates of writing influence your decision to read. The content today is even more relevant than 10 years ago. The introduced principle of Red Monkey Innovation Management is timeless.

Because of the books and ‘coincidence’, in 2007 I entered the world of keynotes. It was not planned, it just happened. Between 2007 and 2020 I did hundreds (close to 1.000 … 8-) keynotes & workshops in Belgium, the Netherlands and several other countries. Including 4 times TEDx Speaker. It was also a time of discovery. The challenges I described in my books were global challenges. Every region, every country, every organization was/is looking for answers to the same question: How to boost learning and disruptive innovation? How can we use the full potential of people? How to embed Agile Red Monkey Innovation Management in the culture of organizations?

COVID almost killed my ‘Keynote Speaker Business’. We tried webcasts but my global network / footprint was just too small to have an impact. But it also gave me the opportunity to finally ‘finish’ one of my other lifelong projects. Finding a strategy to change the culture of organizations.

Creator > The Engine of Innovation Mindset

First of all I’m still a system thinker but since 30 years with passion in organizational development. The last years I finally finished my master plan for organizational development: The Engine of Innovation Mindset Map & Operating System. The Map and the Operating System are our blueprint to embed Red Monkey Innovation Management in organizations. It gives an organic but disruptive strategy to boost real learning and disruptive innovation.

Founder > Red Monkey Company

Finally I can focus on bringing this holistic strategy for culture transformation to the market. I know … it will again be a process of falling and standing up. If you want to talk about this mindset feel free to contact me. Gradually we will introduce this mindset in the products of Red Monkey Company - “Together, we boost your Engine of Innovation!”