Contrary to what many people think, the vast majority of artists are tireless workers. The masterpiece does not appear just through inspiration, but almost always through a lot of perspiration. Once at an exhibition where I was the curator, a lady asked a famous artist, who had painted one of the works, how long it took him to create it. Knowing the artist in question, I knew that it could have taken him an entire month, full of hesitations, constant corrections and many frustrations, as it could have taken literally ten minutes. His answer was, however, enlightening: it took me forty years!
Forty years was, neither more nor less, what the artist had spent in his career and his answer was very true. Without forty years of work, of frustrations and joys, of hesitations and successes, he would never have been able to paint that picture. A lifetime of work is summed up in that work.
A highly qualified doctor when he analyzes a disease, or a senior lawyer when he gives an opinion and takes five minutes to do so often shocks us, the amount charged, but what about a medical diagnosis or a failed legal opinion by someone who charges less and has no experience? The doctor or lawyer didn’t take 5 minutes to give their opinion. They spent a lifetime of study and accumulated experience.
Unfortunately, in company management there is enormous (and often disproportionate) pressure from younger generations, in search of their professional advancement and, on the other hand, there is a devaluation of the capital of the accumulated experience of older generations. All of this leads to a growing decapitalization of knowledge by companies. Older generations are baselessly accused of being unable to respond to change (as if resistance to change were a generational issue), but we are unable to see the constant and systematic fall into error on the part of younger generations due to inexperience and, often (what is even worse), due to intellectual arrogance.
We live in a world where we all think we are born wise and knowledgeable. Nobody wants to learn from anyone because that is assuming ignorance. The saying goes that man is the only animal that falls twice
times in the same hole (only twice???) and in our companies it is a common fact. Seeking innovation by learning from the past and taking advantage of any company’s own knowledge capital is the key to success that should not be wasted.
No one builds success in five minutes, no one gives an opinion or a diagnosis in five minutes, nor does anyone paint a picture in five minutes. It’s a whole accumulated experience that comes to the surface and is applied at the right time… in life and on the screen.