Imprisoned Within

A powerful lesson on unleashing your potential from the Renaissance.

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White marble is a preferred medium for sculptors, past and present.  Colored marble is preferred for architectural or decorative uses.  White marble is moderately hard to carve, but not overly so.  Using iron tools and abrasives, a sculptor can shape and texture the stone, altering the force and angle of each blow to create different effects. 

In 1464, a massive block of white Carrara marble was delivered to the sculptor, Agnostino di Duccio, to carve a statue.  Weighing nearly six tons, the marble block measured over twenty feet in height, eight feet wide, and nearly six feet deep.  He abandoned the project, citing concerns over the marble’s inherent structural flaws. 

A second sculptor, Antonio Rossellino, was then tasked to continue the project.  He too gave up, also citing imperfections in the marble that could threaten the sustainability of a large statue.  Known as Taroli, the hulking white marble slab was full of sand holes or pits.  This threatened the structural stability of the marble and any sculpture carved from it.

For twenty-five years, this massive chunk of white marble was left outside.  It was exposed to the elements and essentially abandoned.  The hopes and dreams of a spectacular work of art emerging from this massive marble block had been relegated to an unfulfilled wish.

Until…

A young twenty-six-year-old artist and sculptor was commissioned in 1501 to attempt to do what two previous sculptors were unable to do. He was hired to turn this massive chunk of white marble into a spectacular work of art.

For three years, he tirelessly labored night and day, chipping, carving, sanding, and smoothing the stone to release the work of art trapped within the mass of marble.

In 1504, Michaelangelo unveiled the finished Statue of David, considered by many (even today) to be the greatest work of sculpture ever created.

Michaelangelo had done what two other sculptors failed to do, release David from his marble tomb. For twenty-five years, it had remained trapped (entombed) within the massive Carrara marble slab.

It took the hands of a skilled visionary to release the image that was imprisoned within.

There’s a leadership lesson here. (Of course, there is…)

The premise of my book, Black Belt Leadership 101, is that every single one of us possesses a Black Belt Leader Within, waiting to be discovered, developed, and deployed. 

You and I…we all have the potential (and the opportunity) to become World Class Masters of Who We Are and What We Do. 

If…and only if…

We’re willing to do what Michaelangelo did and reveal to the world what is imprisoned within.

We have to be willing to pick up the hammer and chisel and start chipping away at our lives to expose what’s on the inside, waiting to be revealed.

When Michaelangelo was commissioned to sculpt the Statue of David, he tirelessly sat about pecking away at the massive marble slab.  Little by little, the statue locked inside the marble casing began to be revealed. With meticulous effort, Michaelangelo chipped, carved, shaped, sanded, and polished the statue to perfection.

The secret to Michaelangelo’s success, and yours, is found in your daily routine.

Successful people do daily what unsuccessful people do sometimes or not at all.

So what does that look like?

First, Michaelangelo had to visualize what the end result would be once he was finished sculpting the statue. He had to create in his mind an image, and hold that image in his thoughts until it came into physical representation in the earth. Michaelangelo saw the end from the beginning, defined what a WIN looked like to him, and kept his eye on the finish line as he daily progressed forward.

You and I have to do the very same thing.

We have to DISCOVER our own unique Black Belt Leader Within.

Leaders have an uncanny ability to see more, and see before others do.  My mentor, Dr. John Maxwell, talks about that in his writings.  Stephen Covey in his classic book, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, reminded his readers to “start with the end in mind.” 

You’ve got to know where you’re going before you start.  Otherwise, how do you even begin? 

In my book, Black Belt Secrets of Success, I pose a series of important questions to help you discover your passion, your calling, your Black Belt Leader Within.  You’ll find them in Chapter 3 of the book. If you’ve not yet purchased the book, you’ll find those questions HERE.

Secondly, once Michaelangelo visualized the image he wanted to remove from the marble that imprisoned it, he sat about doing the work necessary to remove what wasn’t necessary so only what was essential to the outcome remained.  He daily did the work of improving upon the rough-hewn stone until the image of David was fully released from its marble tomb.

Again, you and I have to do the same thing.

Once we DISCOVER our own unique Black Belt Leader Within, the difficult task of DEVELOPING begins.  This is where personal growth comes in.  It’s the process of daily becoming a better version of who we are and what we do as we learn, grow, improve, expand, stretch, and mature.

This is where habits that aren’t serving us well are replaced with habits that do. This is where limiting thoughts and beliefs are replaced with limitless thoughts and a belief that we are capable of saying, doing, and becoming more than we are today – and repeating that process again tomorrow.

My book, Leading Every Day, provides the reader with an interactive guide to develop a process that is dedicated to daily personal growth.   Consistency is the key to success in any endeavor, and daily development is how you hone the skills necessary to continue to lead at an ever higher level.  

We get comfortable with being uncomfortable, as growth happens outside our comfort zone. We stay hungry and eager to learn.  We become voracious consumers of books, podcasts, and conferences to add the collective wisdom of other leaders to our own.

Just like Michaelangelo, you’ve to keep whittling away at what’s imprisoning your own Black Belt Leader Within, so it can be fully revealed to a world that is in desperate need of good leadership.  The “Taroli” (imperfections) have to be removed for the image to be fully revealed.

Thirdly, Michaelangelo embraced a philosophy we read about in Og Mandino’s book, The Greatest Salesman in the World. That is persistence.  Michaelangelo persisted daily, tirelessly, relentlessly, until the Statue of David was fully and flawlessly revealed.

Once more, you and I have to do the same thing.

Now that we’ve DISCOVERED our own unique Black Belt Leader Within, and we’re continuing on the path of continuous, intentional DEVELOPMENT of ourselves and our potential, we have to DEPLOY what we’re revealing to make a difference right where we are. 

We have to start leading.

First, we lead ourselves. After all, how can we lead others if we can’t lead ourselves?  Like Michaelangelo, we persist in the process of development, understanding that for the Black Belt Leader, there is no finish line.  We are a continual work in progress.  But we begin to use what we have, to make a difference where we are, because that’s what leaders do. 

Leaders show up and they lead.  They lead themselves well and make good choices.  They invite others to join them on their journey of discovery, teaching them what they are learning along the way. Leaders roll up their sleeves and get busy, generating results and modeling excellence in everything they do. They use their gifts and talents to serve and add value to others, so those they are leading can achieve their hopes, goals, dreams, and aspirations.  

Leaders not only deploy themselves, they help others release their own Black Belt Leader Within so they too can rise to their full potential. Black Belt Leaders inspire others to do the same.

The Statue of David is a masterpiece.  It stands 17 feet tall.  It portrays the Biblical character as poised, focused, and prepared to engage the giant Goliath.  The attention to detail is stunning, and it remains perhaps the most recognized statue in the history of the world.

But for 25 years, it remained imprisoned within a slab of marble, waiting to be released so it could inspire the world.

I once heard my mentor, Dr. John Maxwell, say,

“If you could see me in the beginning, you would be inspired.”

Dr. John went from small town country preacher to becoming the foremost authority on leadership in the world. He too had to go through the process of removing the “Taroli” in his own life to step into his full potential.  And Dr. John will be the first one to tell you that he is still a work in progress.

And so are we all.

What is it that remains imprisoned within you, waiting for you to DISCOVER, DEVELOP, and DEPLOY it so the world can also be inspired by you?

What “taroli” (imperfections) need to be chiseled away from your life?

The Michaelangelo process of freeing our own “David” within is unchanged centuries later. 

Start with the end in mind.  See the image of who you can become and where you want to go.

Hold that image until it physically manifests itself in the earth.

Commit to doing the difficult task of carefully removing what doesn’t need to be there so that only what is essential remains.

Be consistent, and persistent in the process, doing daily what successful people do.

If you are intentional about doing these things, you will DISCOVER, DEVELOP, and DEPLOY your own Black Belt Leader Within, and you will inspire others to do the same.

You, too, will be a masterpiece.