My “Infrastructure Services” masterpiece is moving to Cambridge!!

Back in 2011 a new legal entity was created, Mundipharma IT Services. A captive IT service provider with a mission to deliver world-class IT around the globe.

For the first time we brought together colleagues from Germany, the UK and Switzerland to work together in this new company, on its new adventure. I was the newly appointed Head of Infrastructure Services for Europe and was given the task of bringing a new team together.

We had a brilliant launch event planned in Lucerne, Switzerland and I knew that the next day might be somewhat of a struggle, the IT people we hire know how to party!!

With all this in mind I had arranged for my new team to relax and paint, nothing too strenuous. I also provided Jelly Babies, the best cure that I know of for a late night and a hangover.

There were 24 small squares (5cm x 5cm) that we distributed to the team and the task was for each team member to scale and replicate their own square on to a much larger canvas (30cm x 30cm).

One by one, each artist mixed paints onto their palette and then diligently recreated their own masterpiece. They continued to paint in silence and then suddenly the group realised that what they were doing was actually part of a much bigger picture!!

When the 24 artists had finished painting we brought together their finished canvases and arranged them until they revealed the true masterpiece, the Mediterranean Landscape by Pablo Picasso.

Since 2011 this picture has hung on my office wall as a constant reminder to me of the importance of individual contribution, the need to work together and that we should express and embrace creativity whilst working in unison…together we can achieve great things!