‘It’s certainly possible to get by in life without dedication.  The craftsman represents the special human condition of being engaged.’*

The former General Electric CEO Jack Welch tells the story of a GE employee’s comment on changes the company was implementing, which would include employees in the creative processes.**   My memory’s a little rusty, but basically the employee said, “You’ve paid me for 25 years to use my hands, and all that time you could have had my mind for free.”

Richard Sennett tells us that Aristotle uses the word cheirotechnon for craftsman, meaning “handworker,” but this replaced the earlier word demioergos, referring to people ‘who combined head and hand.’*

When a culture separates head and hand, making it normal for many of its citizens to be “hand people” only, innovation is removed – people become valued for only how quickly they can react to the needs and instructions of managers and employers. But when people are allowed to be “head and hand people” there’s the possibility for them of anticipating, designing, and transforming – towards a more imaginative future.

The person who pursues their craft knows that joy doesn’t come from external reward but from within.

What a crying shame if people move through life without appreciating they can write a different story – one that connects heads and hearts, identifying and developing their craft (and there are as many crafts as there are people), towards making the future dance.

Sometimes all it takes is for desperate people find each other.

(*From Richard Sennett’s The Craftsman.)
(**The story comes from either Jack Welch’s Straight From the Gut, or Winning.)
(Today’s doodle honours Lesley and Clive, two people who have recently encouraged me in my doodling.)