Sense Cera!

I once read the amazing story of how the incomparable Michelangelo and other sculptors of his day would take their creations down to the public marketplace to sell, and walking before them would be a young man yelling, “Sensa Cera! Sensa Cera!” Translated from its original Latin, it means “without wax”.

Sculpting a human figure out of a solid piece of marble is incredibly difficult and arduous work requiring much planning, testing, and preparation. The artist must visualize the completed work in his mind before he begins to chip away at the roughly shaped rock standing before him, one chisel strike at a time.?

Sometimes, while sculpting, he would make a mistake, creating a crack or fracture where there shouldn't be one. His assistant would then cover the fault with some high quality wax in order to conceal the error. The problem was that when they took the sculpture to an outdoor market to sell, the hot sun would beat down on it and melt the wax, revealing the flaws contained within the work. The piece would immediately lose value and the potential buyer would either move on or bargain for a lower price.

Conversely, on hearing the words “Sensa cera!”, prospective buyers would immediately appreciate that the work of art they were thinking of purchasing was perfectly created from a single piece of marble, free of any cracks or scuff marks from the artist’s chisel and hammer. Imagine their heart racing as they beheld the beauty of the piece before them, knowing that over time, apart from being lovely to behold and bringing immeasurable joy, it would escalate in value and therefore make an excellent investment.

The finest sculptors were those ablest to produce works without wax. Their labor was authentic, the fine fruit of grand imagination, hard work, and pure skill.

Our world is looking for leaders who, with integrity, can cry out, “Sensa cera!” True “artists” who take great care and pride in their labors. Who show great imagination, work hard, and love their calling. Unfortunately, today’s business landscape has too many wax-filled leaders. Men and women displaying poor character, lazy leadership, dishonest practices, and looking to take advantage of those who follow them.

They promote themselves as honest artists but are in fact frauds. Not only those who are dishonest and selfish, but also who lack imagination, passion and courage to create something meaningful, helpful and lasting.

I'm not saying we must be perfect! All of us are filled with cracks and marks and scrapes because we’re all broken in some way. I am saying however, that each of us has the choice to live an authentic, honest life, free of scheming, hiding, and trickery.

It takes a lot of very hard, intentional work, daily, to live this kind of authentic life. Waxless is tough! The harsh sun of adversity, criticism, accountability, etc., is constantly beating down on our "sculpture" to test whether or not we have wax covering our mistakes.

In each of our lives, there are two sculptures we are always working on: ourselves and our work. And the task is never done.

One powerful way to achieve “Sensa cera!” is to befriend the “Michelangelo’s” of your particular world. We all need mentors and examples to follow who can help us on our “waxless” journey. You need only one or two. Better to walk deeply with one teacher than on a surface level with several.

Imagine the benefit Michelangelo’s students had of learning from a true master who had already made some of his?major mistakes? It’s the same for us today - find a great example of authenticity, befriend them and learn under their tutelage.

As a leader, I somehow knew instinctively that it’s always better to live transparently and honestly before your followers than it is to try and hide from them.

It’s true that too many times I revealed too much of myself and my work too publicly, and I paid dearly for that immaturity, as did my family. I have had to apologize too many times to count to my loved ones for sharing too much information with the public, sometimes even in inappropriate ways.?

Let me share a personal example of immature “Sensa cera!”. The first time I told our church that Delray and I had a major argument and I had treated her unfairly, instead of showing appreciation, she and our kids were angry and disappointed with me. I thought it would help the congregation to know their leader was “normal” and a “regular” guy, but it actually caused some of them to be confused because they assumed we had a nearly perfect marriage.

Delray told me that if I had first checked with her whether I could share our story or not, she probably would have given me permission and even would have helped me craft it. So, lesson learned! A positive result was that many people did in fact approach us both over the following weeks, expressing their relief and even joy at hearing that the beloved leader could fail just like them, and was authentically sharing his life with them.

Living “Sensa cera" is always better, even if it is costlier.

Now a more positive example. When our congregation was faced with difficult situations where sharing the facts of a given issue might cause alarm or resistance, I always chose to share truth in a loving, clear manner, believing the end result would be healthier for us all. At our annual business meetings and during special voting sessions, we went out of our way to ensure nothing was hidden or covered over by our leadership team.

We faced difficult questions honestly, face to face, in an open forum, and when we made mistakes, we acknowledged our fault and apologized accordingly. They were happy to follow our leadership because we were transparent and authentic. That was the road we chose and we walked it to the best of our ability. It began with me as the leader, as these things typically do.?

Ultimately, living “sense sera” isn’t a single decision you make but a series of many, many smaller choices, made daily.

It’s a never ending journey you cannot avoid which leads you higher and higher up the mountain of authenticity.?

Although the travel may be more strenuous the higher you climb, the view is also grander with each passing step.

Thanks for reading. You can find more at lorenzoagnes.org