Cathedrals, lightbulbs, clothes and watermelons
Reflections on corporate culture which inspired our journey
1. Building a Cathedral
A man came upon a construction site where three people were working. He asked the first, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am laying bricks.” He asked the second, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am building a wall.” As he approached the third, he heard him humming a tune as he worked, and asked, “What are you doing?” The man stood, looked up at the sky, and smiled, “I am building a cathedral!” (source)
Making change happen isn’t easy, especially when the vision is grand. So many individual elements have to come together that sometimes, it can feel like a never-ending slog.
In these moments, it helps to recall the “why” behind all this effort. Laying each brick may not in itself be monumental, but when the last brick is laid you’ll have built something worth celebrating in the long run.
2. One Little Lightbulb
As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” (source)
Success rarely happens on the first attempt. Innovations both big and small require multiple rounds of testing and iteration to get right, simply because the world itself is a complex system.
Instead of fearing failure, reframe it as an opportunity to learn. Embracing this doesn’t just contribute to your own personal growth, it also gives those around you the psychological safety they perhaps didn’t know they had to try out that new idea.
Who knows — that one idea might be the little change the world needs.
3. The Emperor’s New Clothes
An Emperor of a city is fond of clothes. Two imposter weavers enter his city and tell him they will create a suit for him that would be invisible to stupid people. The weavers only pretend to weave the suit and present the fake suit to everyone in the city. Everyone who looks upon the suit is troubled by what they cannot see, and whether they are inadequate or not. Everyone lies and says they can see the suit. A child breaks everyone’s delusion by shouting out, “the Emperor is not wearing anything at all!” (source)
What do you do when the truth is inconvenient? Some (particularly those who fear being judged) choose to deny it, but more often than not, everyone knows when something isn’t quite right, even if they’re not saying it out loud.
Pretending that things are any different just exacerbates the situation. The truth inevitably catches up anyway.
4. Watermelon Reporting
Most of us [have] experienced the phenomenon when the project status is red but is getting greener and greener when climbing the management ladder. The project’s core is red but for the management it has a nice green paring, so it looks like a watermelon. This is why I call this phenomenon Watermelon Reporting. (source)
Bad news doesn’t get better with age. Bearers of bad news have two choices:
- Hide it, and provide false feedback to everyone involved.
- Share it, and give those who can help an opportunity to step in before things get worse.
Choose wisely.
These may just be stories, but they are a daily reality in many organisations. These are the stories that inspired us to create a solution to make change happen and bring people along.
Want to find out more about building change muscle and achieving outcomes? Visit our website at www.journeylab.io.
