Meaning Before Form: Gèn and the Structure of Resilience

As part of our process designing visual expressions for our six core commitments, we explored aligning each value with an ancient I Ching hexagram as a way to define and shape our ethos. In this series, we will explore each alignment in greater depth—focusing today on our commitment to Resilience.

Resilience: Still Standing ⛰ (Hexagram 52 – Gèn 艮, Keeping Still / Mountain)

Resilience is built from tension. From pressure. From the choice to remain intact in the middle of difficulty—not in spite of it, but through it.

Hexagram 52—Keeping Still—is formed by a structure of alternating solid and broken lines. Yang and yin. Strength and openness. It’s not uniform or flawless. It’s balanced. And that balance is what gives it the strength to hold.

This post marks the sixth of six commitments we’ve been exploring at ODNOS—values that shape how we show up, do our work, and navigate the unknown together.

Resilience holds them all.

It’s what allows Excellence to be sustained over time.

What makes Adaptation meaningful instead of reactive.

What brings depth to Decisive Action.

What keeps Self-Motivation from turning into burnout.

And what gives Straight Talk its clarity—without collapse.

Our commitment to Resilience doesn’t assume ease. It meets each of us at ODNOS differently in the realities we’re carrying -

For some, it means staying grounded through personal hardship.

For others, it’s staying present inside tension, and continuing to care even when it would be easier not to.

Sometimes it’s stepping forward.

Sometimes it’s staying—especially when it would be easier to walk away.

The point is not perfection—it’s integrity. Holding our values when it’s hardest to. Letting friction shape us without losing what we stand for.

Every challenge has shaped us—and sharpened our commitment to what comes next.