The Fertile Void: What Three Years of Translating a Book Taught Me About Leadership

How a translation project became an unexpected journey into Gestalt coaching, collective intelligence and the art of letting go.

When I first suggested translating John Leary-Joyce's book The Fertile Void: Gestalt Coaching at Work into French, I thought I knew what we were getting ourselves into.

After more than 35 years leading technology projects and organisational transformations, I was confident that with a clear plan, committed people and good organisation, we could get the job done.

Three years later, I see things rather differently.

We didn't simply translate a book about Gestalt coaching. We found ourselves living many of the principles it describes.

And along the way, I learned some important lessons about leadership, relationships and the value of not always knowing the answer.

When a straightforward project becomes something else

The idea was simple. John's book had profoundly influenced my development as an executive coach, and I wanted French-speaking coaches and leaders to have access to his ideas in their own language.

A group of generous volunteers came together, bringing their knowledge of Gestalt, coaching, language and culture.

Initially, everything seemed to be progressing well. People took initiative, chapters were translated and ideas flowed.

But then things began to slow down.

Different interpretations emerged. Volunteers had competing priorities. Decisions we thought had been settled were revisited. What sounded perfectly natural to one French speaker didn't necessarily sound right to another.

And translating Gestalt concepts proved much more complex than replacing English words with French equivalents.

We weren't just translating language. We were trying to preserve John's voice, his intentions and the experience he wanted readers to have.

My instinct was to do what I had done throughout my consulting career: clarify responsibilities, improve the process, make decisions and get things moving.

Sometimes that worked.

Sometimes it made things more difficult.

The moment I realised we were stuck

I remember returning to John for supervision when the project had reached one of its many impasses.

Rather than helping me find another solution, John encouraged me to become curious about what was happening, including what was happening within me.

I began to recognise my frustration when progress slowed, my discomfort with uncertainty and my tendency to interpret other people's behaviour rather than explore their experience.

At one point, instead of suggesting another plan, I simply acknowledged:

"I think we're stuck."

Something shifted.

We no longer needed to pretend things were progressing smoothly. We could recognise the difficulty and explore it together.

This was Gestalt in practice.

Awareness created the conditions for movement.

Sometimes leadership isn't about finding the answer. It's about helping people see what is actually happening.

Discovering the fertile void

John describes the fertile void as a space of uncertainty where familiar ways of thinking and acting no longer provide an answer, but where something new may emerge.

It is an uncomfortable place, particularly for leaders accustomed to solving problems and making decisions.

Throughout the translation project, we found ourselves entering this space repeatedly.

We didn't always agree. Sometimes we struggled with differences of opinion about language, meaning, process or priorities.

My instinct was often to resolve the uncertainty quickly.

But gradually, I learned that not every disagreement needed an immediate solution. Sometimes we needed to remain curious, listen more carefully and allow different perspectives to become visible.

The challenge was learning to distinguish between when the group needed direction and when it needed space.

That distinction has become increasingly important in my work with leadership teams and organisations.

Leadership doesn't always belong to the leader

Another powerful lesson emerged from the way our community worked.

Although I initiated the project and coordinated much of the activity, the leadership never belonged exclusively to me.

It moved around the group.

Different people stepped forward depending on what the project needed.

Some contributed deep knowledge of Gestalt. Others brought linguistic precision, editorial expertise, creativity, organisation or the ability to maintain relationships when things became difficult.

Many contributed their expertise, time and energy, often returning to the manuscript several times to improve something we had already considered finished.

John supported the community through supervision, Gestalt training and shared learning experiences.

What emerged was more than a translation team.

We became a community of practice, learning together through the work itself.

I came to appreciate that effective leadership isn't always about directing others.

Sometimes it means recognising who is best placed to contribute, creating the conditions for them to do so and being willing to step aside.

Letting go of control is easier said than done.

What artificial intelligence taught us about being human

During the three years of the project, another unexpected contributor arrived: generative artificial intelligence.

We experimented with ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and DeepL.

These tools became increasingly capable of producing fluent translations in remarkably little time.

But something interesting happened.

The better the technology became, the more we recognised the importance of human judgement.

A translation could be grammatically correct yet lose the meaning of a Gestalt concept.

It could sound perfectly natural in French while no longer sounding like John.

We still needed people who understood the theory, recognised subtle differences in meaning and could sense whether a passage conveyed the same experience as the original.

AI helped us work faster, but it didn't replace the need for awareness, relationships and collective understanding.

Technology can accelerate the work. Human judgement gives it meaning.

This is a lesson that extends well beyond translation into the way we lead organisations adopting AI.

The final 20% and the importance of structure

One of the biggest surprises was discovering how much work remained when we thought the translation was almost complete.

We still needed to harmonise terminology, revisit chapters, compare interpretations, resolve comments, maintain the glossary and manage different versions of the manuscript.

This final stage taught me something else.

Structure and process are not necessarily the opposite of creativity and freedom.

When designed thoughtfully, they can support both.

A shared glossary preserved our collective learning. Clear decisions prevented unnecessary repetition. Good version control protected everyone's contributions.

What might have looked like bureaucracy became a form of care for the people and the work.

For leaders, the challenge is not choosing between structure and freedom, but finding the right balance as circumstances evolve.

What this experience taught me about leadership

Looking back, I can see how much my understanding of leadership has developed.

I entered the project believing that much of my responsibility was to maintain progress.

I emerged with a broader perspective.

Leadership sometimes means taking decisive action, establishing structure and providing clarity.

But it can also mean acknowledging uncertainty, naming a difficulty, becoming aware of our own reactions or creating space for someone else to take the lead.

Perhaps most importantly, it means recognising that our own behaviour is part of the system we are trying to influence.

That is particularly relevant when working with teams experiencing tension, uncertainty or change.

We cannot always control what happens around us. But we can become more aware of how we respond and how that response affects others.

From translation to harmony

Today, my mission is to accompany leaders, teams and organisations in bringing greater harmony to our society and environment.

For me, harmony does not mean the absence of conflict or difference.

It means developing the capacity to remain connected, learn from our differences and creatively adapt together.

That is exactly what this project required.

We experienced enthusiasm and frustration, connection and disagreement, progress and uncertainty.

Through it all, we learned to work with our differences rather than eliminate them.

And perhaps that is the most meaningful connection between translating The Fertile Void and the wider challenges of leadership.

Harmony is not something we achieve once and preserve forever. It is something we continually create through the quality of our relationships.

Completing the Gestalt

As the French edition of The Fertile Void (Le Vide Fertile) prepares for publication, I feel enormous gratitude towards everyone who contributed to this journey.

Nobody joined the project for financial reward. They gave their time, experience and energy because Gestalt, coaching and John's ideas mattered to them.

The book shaped our approach to the translation.

And the experience of translating it deepened our understanding of the book.

Three years ago, I thought we were setting out to translate a book.

Today, I realise we were also learning how to work, lead and grow together.

Perhaps it is entirely fitting that, in translating The Fertile Void, we had to learn not to rush to fill uncertainty, but to remain with it long enough to discover what might emerge.

A question for you

When was the last time you faced uncertainty as a leader and resisted the urge to immediately find a solution?

What became possible when you allowed yourself and others the space to explore what was emerging?

I'd welcome your reflections.

Andy Prior is an executive, systemic team and organisational coach in partnership with the AoEC. He works with leaders, teams and organisations to develop greater awareness, stronger relationships and more effective ways of working together.

Interested in Gestalt coaching and leadership development?

Explore my coaching and leadership programmes and discover how the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC) is bringing its executive coaching programmes to France.