As you set out for Ithaki
hope your road is long,
full of adventure & full of discovery.
Don’t be afraid.
Let a rare excitement stir your spirit.
Hope your road is long.
May there be many moments of pleasure & joy.
May you enter harbours full of precious treasures,
visiting places to meet new people to learn from.
Be inspired.
Always keep Ithaki in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so when you reach your destination,
you’re wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaki to make you rich.
Ithaki supports you on this marvelous journey.
With her you are safe to set out.
She will join you until she has nothing left to give you.
Ithaki won’t fool you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what Ithaki means.
Based on the Poem “Ithaka” by C.P. Cavafy
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51296/ithaka-56d22eef917ec
The inspiration to opt for “Ithaki” as a name for the organisation came when listening to “Heerlijk Hoorspel – Koning Odysseus” by “Het Geluidhuis”. It simply resonated.
After the Trojan war, king Odysseus sets out to get back home. The journey was supposed to take 1 month. It took Odysseus and his men 10 years full of adventure & full of challenges. That sounds a bit like corporate life:
- Things take much longer than expected.
- You encounter challenges you had not imagined.
- You need creativity and teamwork to get through.
- You need a compelling goal that inspires you to persevere.
Cyclops: Odysseus and his men came ashore to restock their food and water. They were thrilled to find a cave full of sheep. While eating some roasted cheap, a Cyclops appeared. Odysseus blinded the Cyclops with a sharpened stick. Everyone got safely away by pretending to be sheep, making bah-bah sounds until they had crawled to safety.
Sirens: Odysseus and his men were sailing along when they heard the most beautiful sound. These were evil Sirens singing. They loved to lure sailors to their death by letting their ships crash into the rocks. Their song was hypnotic. All the men stopped what they were doing, and listened. No one steered the ship. No one moved. They just listened. They escaped because Odysseus had his crew’s ears filled with wax and letting himselve be tied to the ship’s mast.
Circe: Circe – an immortal goddess – seeks to prevent Odysseus from returning home. She uses her magic powers to turn some of Odysseus’s men into pigs. When Odysseus resists her magic with the help of the god Hermes, Circe invites him into her bed, then bathes him, feeds him, and releases his men from the spell she’s cast on them.
Penelope: Penelope – wife of King Odysseus & waiting for him to return – decides that the best way to avoid remarriage is to create an impossible archery contest. She tells her suitors that she will marry the man who can string Odysseus’ bow and shoot an arrow through the holes in twelve axes. She knows that nobody could possibly accomplish this feat except Odysseus. Her husband, disguised as a beggar, has returned and is in the crowd, but Penelope seems to recognize him only gradually. When Odysseus succeeds in shooting the arrow through the axes, she has one more test for him. She asks a servant to move the bed that she and Odysseus once shared, but Odysseus interrupts and says that moving the bed will be impossible, because one of its legs is a living olive tree. This is the final proof that Penelope needs that her husband really is the man she once knew.
Logo
The blue-green line in the logo represents water on which the boat navigates. It is the journey you want to travel.
The location icon – the destination Ithaki – is coloured like the sunset
Link with mountaineering
You will notice many photographs about climbing, Via Ferrata & canyoning. These are important hobbies for our family.
Apart from offering beautiful pictures, they also provide a great analogy. When often have some kind of ambition. This might be the aim to reach a peak, but equally well to try out something new. Every endeavour requires meticulous preparation. Unfortunately, along the way, you always encounter unforeseen events and despite your best plan, you will need to tailor it. Itaki wants to help you create a plan and assist you when the plan needs to be adjusted.