Success With Flaws

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

— Michelangelo

They told him it couldn’t be done.

The block of marble had sat in a yard for decades—scarred, too narrow, riddled with imperfections. Two sculptors had already walked away, each one declaring it unusable. A waste of stone. A failure before it ever began.

But Michelangelo saw what they didn’t.

He studied the flaw. Not to avoid it—but to work with it. He carved around the cracks, shifted the figure’s posture, changed the angle of the arms. He adjusted his vision to the constraints—and created one of the most iconic sculptures in human history: David.

A masterpiece not despite the flaw, but because of it.

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In leadership, business, and even life, how often do we reject an idea—or a person—because they’re not “ideal”? Too rough. Too unpolished. Too risky. We pass over the imperfect, looking for clean lines and ready-made solutions.

But the truth is, visionaries aren’t the ones who start with perfect material. They’re the ones who see what’s waiting inside the stone.

They carve the path anyway.

They adapt. They cut with care. They turn the flaws into part of the story.

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So whether you’re sculpting a brand, building a team, or just figuring out what to do next…

Don’t look for the perfect marble.

Look for the hidden masterpiece inside the flawed one.