Michelangelo, Change Artist

Last fall, I had the great fortune to tour Italy, and Florence became one of my new favorite places—for its scenery, ambiance, food, wine, and shopping, but also for its art museums. I will never forget seeing Michelangelo’s David statue in the galleries of the Accademia. I was awestruck by its beauty and the seemingly impossible task that Michelangelo faced to turn a block of white marble into this amazing sculpture.

While I was contemplating that, I couldn’t help but think about the task business leaders face when they try to change their organizations. They have a future vision of something beautiful, but then the reality of the white marble block hits them. Michelangelo accomplished his task by having not only vision, but persistence, a sense of timing, and knowledge of how to use the tools available to him—as effective change agents always do.

Michelangelo believed that the job of the sculptor is to free the forms that are already inside the stone. “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free,” he wrote. This concept is most vividly seen in his unfinished sculptures, which appear to be struggling to free themselves from the stone.

Successful change management has a similar quality. It occurs when a leader has a vision of the desired future state of the organization, and communicates it in imagery so powerful that all stakeholders understand. One of the greatest examples of this in recent history was when the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad was torn down by Iraqi citizens, with help from American soldiers. It didn’t necessarily alter the outcome of the war, but the image of the statue toppling, with a noose around its neck, gave power to the movement for Iraqi freedom.

Executives focus on their business model and the business plan that will get them to that model, on their strategy and the tactics to execute the strategy—all essential to success. But they don’t realize the equal importance of a vision that links logical reasons for change with emotional ones. For example, a change can be presented as “a great new way to increase revenues.” But it can also be presented in terms of how it affects people: “This will put a stop to the end-of-quarter craziness we go through to meet revenue goals, and will make your jobs easier with steady sales.”

Another way to communicate a vision is to show, not tell. At a client company where I served as interim CEO, I needed to force a culture change from one of spending like the CFO’s office was Fort Knox to one that acknowledged a significant cash-flow crisis. I talked in employee meetings about the need to reduce expenses, but I also demonstrated it by getting rid of rented office plants and asking administrative staff to remove paper clips from memos going into the garbage, so that we could re-use them. Quiet daily actions like these show the desired change and have a greater impact than words alone do.

Persistence

Michelangelo wrote about painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel: “After four tortured years and more than 400 [greater than] life-sized figures, I felt as old and as weary as Jeremiah. I was only 37, yet friends did not recognize the old man I had become.”

Anyone who’s ever tried to implement change in an organization can relate. Sometimes it feels like you’re just banging your head against the wall! When despair sets in, remember that it took Michelangelo four years to free David from that chunk of marble. The people who are most successful in leading their organizations through major change are the ones with persistence.