“Agro? Ergo? ARGO!

As company founders, it was not always easy for us to position a firm called ARGO in a banking and insurance environment strongly shaped by agriculture. In the beginning, the need to explain — and to clearly distinguish ourselves — was considerable. And yet the name actually came about in a way that was very typical of us: intuitively, pragmatically, and right in the middle of doing.

In 1996, Ron Thoma, Bernhard Gattermeyer, Dieter Bernold and I were sitting around the dining table in our small apartment, playing with possible names: abbreviations of our surnames, intelligent-sounding terms, associations with our work.

But let’s be honest:

with two Ts, one B and one G, there wasn’t all that much to work with. And ToBeGa was no more convincing than any of the variations on Integro or Grow.

So I did what I still often do today:

I reached for a wise book. Back then, it was The Myths of Classical Antiquity. I opened the index — and there, at the very bottom of the second page, it said:

‘ARGO — the ship on which the Argonauts sailed to Colchis.’

I knew the myth: the close-knit crew, the departure, the adventure, the shared journey. Immediately, there was a story.

And yes — I also knew the less glorious ending of the tale. But our thought was clear:

We would write our own story.

Within just a few minutes, the decision was made. The enthusiasm was great — almost as if the name had always existed and had simply been waiting for us to find it.

So simple. So pragmatic.

When I look back on it today, I see many parallels to our work:

Perceiving what is there — what is pending, burdensome or moving — whether in individuals or in organizations, and finding words for it, remains at the heart of our work to this day.

Making something nameable so that it can become understandable, workable and communicable.

Accompanying clients in this process of mentalization, offering myself as a mirror for emotions, patterns and dynamics, and thereby enabling affect regulation or transformation — I believe this is precisely what I love most about my work.

It is actually astonishing how certain threads can run through an entire life story!

Or, as Claudia Bahn, the designer of our logo, always says:

„Arg. Ärger. ARGO.“

But that is another story ;)”

 

ARGO accompanies transformation — in individual coaching and in organizational development processes.