Don’t Let The Limits Get You Down
I surprised my audience (and even myself) by talking about the Mona Lisa in response to a question following a keynote to a group of project managers. The keynote was about one of my favorite themes – the potential for any work to be approached as an art form, with accompanying opportunities for personal fulfillment and creative expression. A man in the audience respectfully asked about the difficulties of finding such luxuries as fulfillment and creative expression within tight budgets, limited job opportunities, and relentless pressure for measurable bottom-line results. It is a familiar refrain today. As I listened to the question, the image of DaVinci’s masterpiece floated across my mind.
One of the most common first impressions of the Mona Lisa is about its size – the painting seems small. It actually measures close to 21 inches wide and 30 inches high, about the size of the average painting that might grace a hallway in your home, and approximately the dimensions of the top of an average double well kitchen sink. However, displayed among the many behemoth paintings in the Louvre, some of them approaching 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall, the Mona Lisa seems puny. Also, its status as the most famous painting of all time suggests something larger and grander. Fame implies bigness: like the Sphinx, the Taj Mahal, or the Lincoln Memorial. But there she hangs, charming and detached, surrounded by sightseers, and decidedly smaller than most people expect her to be.
I am fond of the Mona Lisa for reasons beyond DaVinci’s extraordinary vision and technical brilliance, and the lady’s perplexing smile. She is an example of what might be done within a seemingly small space. In the context of the question from the man at the keynote, she is an appealing metaphor for creative expression in the midst of constraints that seem restrictive and with resources that appear meager.
Somewhere I came across an artist whose name I do not recall, and who wrote, “Every canvas has edges.” He or she was pointing out how creativity benefits from boundaries – limits – because the boundaries provide impetus for creative thought and action. For DaVinci, the limits included not only the size of the canvas, but also restraints such as the availability and cost of paint and the quality of the brushes at hand. In the case of watercolor artists, the temperature and humidity of the very air in which the painter works produce restraints. Poets accept the restraints of meter and rhyme. Potters know that there are certain things that clay just will not do. Photographers understand that conditions of light are not always ideal.
The task of creativity is to produce something of value within whatever the imposed constraints may be, and with whatever resources are at hand.
In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell tells a story that further illustrates the point. It is the story of a nurse named Georgia Sadler who set out to increase understanding about diabetes and breast cancer in San Diego’s black community. Sadler struggled to find an effective way to spread the word about seminars she was offering. She had a very limited budget. After a few disappointing attempts to promote the seminars through churches, she hit upon the idea of gathering together hair stylists from around the city for training sessions. She helped the stylists learn how to talk about breast cancer and diabetes, showing them how to present the information in engaging ways. She provided them with materials to show to other women, creating laminated sheets that would not wilt in hair salons. She also evaluated how successful her approach was at getting women to have mammograms and tests for diabetes, and discovered that it worked. Gladwell said of Sadler’s efforts, “It is possible to do a lot with a little.”
Of course most of us would prefer minimum restraints on our efforts and maximum resources to work with. But I doubt that DaVinci spent much time, if any, lamenting the size of his canvas. And, as Gladwell points out about Georgia Sadler, “She didn’t go to the National Cancer Institute or the California State Department of Health and ask for millions of dollars to run some elaborate, multi-media public awareness campaign.” Instead, she used the tiny budget she had more creatively. DaVinci and Sadler show us what can happen when energy is focused on using the resources at hand in creative ways.
There is a tendency, when resources are limited, to focus energy on the limits: worrying, decrying, relentlessly seeking resources that are simply not available, or merely feeling stymied. This tendency leads inexorably into the depths of helplessness and cynicism. Whenever I visit those depths I don’t get much done, and I doubt that anyone does. I have also known people who not only visit those depths; they seem to live there permanently.
I don’t know if the man who asked the question after the keynote habitually focuses his energy on restraints and limits. He may be one of those who have taken up permanent residence in helplessness and cynicism. Many people do, and it seems a monumental waste of time and energy that could be better put to use finding creative ways to work within whatever limits there may be, and with whatever resources are at hand.
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Tags: Creativity, DaVinci, Gladwell, Mona Lisa, Tipping Point
Thank you Dick. I found this piece relevant, thoughtful and inspiring.
Good morning, Dick Richards! This is, indeed, timely. And the quote “Every canvas has edges,” also makes me aware that every project, endeavor also might have what we perceive to be “imperfections,” or “edginess,” which my mind might interpret as “bad.” I will try to be more mindful it might be of what you speak–the inevitable limitation of all human endeavor.
Moving ahead…Thanks.
Thanks David. I’m always pleased to inspire.
And Kathryn…nice. Imperfection is indeed more “human” than “bad.”
Timely and relevant, Dick. Your examples provided very concrete illustrations. It just
goes to show that it pays to ignore “reality” and other such common perceptions when
they limit and constrain. Sometimes we are called to imagine,and then create new
realities, when we can discard the old thinking.
Deb Call´s last blog post…Love Notes from the Past
Deb,
I really like this — “Sometimes we are called to imagine,and then create new
realities.” A reminder that my reality is what I believe my reality to be.
I enjoyed this post. I’m reading The Age of the Unthinkable by Josua Cooper Ramo and thought the story of Georgia Sadler is a good example of what he calls “mashing up” or combining policies, dreams and ideas in a way that releases new and unexpected power.
At a time when the news screams how boxed in we are by multiple problems, your post reminds us that can be the source of our creativity.
Barbara Sliter´s last blog post…Peace Day, Sept. 21st
I’m heading over to amazon to look at Ramo’s book. Thanks Barbara.