Find a large, breakable bowl – a ceramic bowl.
Drop it on a hard surface – such as tile, wood, or cement.
Watch as the bowl breaks into lots of pieces.
Apologize to the bowl.
Keep apologizing until the bowl thanks you for the apology and, feeling better for you having apologized, glues itself back together and puts itself back in your cupboard.
I’ll wait.
Once That Doesn’t Work, Pick Up All The Pieces And Glue Them Together Yourself
Sure, the bowl may again become suitable for use.
But are the cracks still visible?
Are little pieces of the bowl missing here and there – splinters that flew under the refrigerator, behind the stove, or down the ventilation shaft?
Is the bowl restored to its full former strength?
Maybe.
Possibly.
Probably.
But it could leak. It’s more likely to crack again if it falls again – unless we add a precious metal.
What If We Could Celebrate The Brokenness Of The Bowl?
There is a wonderful Japanese art form called Kintsugi (also known as Kintsukuroi, meaning “to repair with gold”).
Simply, it’s the art of repairing broken pottery by filling in the cracks and the spaces left by missing splinters with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.
The cracks are visible – and that’s the whole point.
Rather than disguise, bury, or deny the damage, Kintsugi celebrates the damage as part of the object’s lifespan and recognizes the beauty in broken things.
How Do You Practice Kintsugi In Business And Life?
Do you condemn another person’s mistakes and imperfections – or view them as part of what makes them great at what they do well?
How about the approach you take to your own mistakes and imperfections?
When you lose one client, do you give up on the others?
When your websites go down, do you panic – or remember that you STILL have things like social media, e-mail, and the phone?
As far as that minor faux pas (or major screwup) – do you dwell on it or grow from it?
Are you stocking up on umbrellas – or wisely investing in silver?
Let’s Team Up And Optimize Your Business
