The Michelangelo effect
Sculpting excellence in leadership (an act of love).
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”
―Michelangelo
A Marble Block No One Wanted
In September 1501, Michelangelo Buonarroti (26 years old at the time) walked into the cathedral yard in Florence to inspect a damaged, 17‑foot block of Carrara marble left abandoned for almost 40 years since it had been originally brought to the courtyard of the cathedral. Two sculptors before Michelangelo, Duccio first and Rossellino after, had tried but fail to chisel something out of the rock, leaving the surface pitted and the core fissured.
Michelangelo accepted the commission anyway, he was convinced that a heroic form was waiting to be released, and over the following 2 years he carefully and gently shaped David from the stone, so perfectly proportioned that contemporaries swore the figure would move if it could speak. It felt as if Michelangelo slowly and patiently persuaded the material to reveal its hidden form, shaping and molding rather than carving and creating. Michelangelo’s conviction was that form pre-exists matter.
Neoplatonic Eyes
There was a neoplatonic current pulsing through Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Florence.
Under the patronage of the Medici family, the Platonic Academy of Florence was an informal group of scholars who met for the revival of Plato’s philosophy during the Renaissance, engaging in discussions and interpretations of Plato's works. This had a profound influence in art, literature, and intellectual life.
The artists and philosophers that gathered in the Platonic Academy believed every physical object was the imperfect shadow of an ideal archetype. The sculptor’s task was therefore one of revelation, not fabrication, removing what is false so the truth can shine:
Excellence emerges through disciplined subtraction.
When Michelangelo later wrote, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free,” he was articulating the metaphysics of potential:
Greatness is latent, not absent.
In leadership, the marble to work with is not limestone; but the unrealized brilliance inside people, projects, the toughest challenge. Every conversation, one-on-one meeting, decision, feedback, has the potential to act as a chisel‑blow in the search of excellence. And the same principle is true in love: partners, parents, sibling, friends are the sculptors for each other, patiently removing fear, doubt, and conformity to help reveal potential, the David within.
The huge responsibility of loving is to see the hidden form in each other, and commit to its release.
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and help them become what they are capable of being.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Sculptor’s most important lesson on Leadership
In 1501, Michelangelo accepted to solve a problem nobody wanted: to create a sculpture out of a 17‑foot marble block scarred by prior failed attempts. Over 2 years of hard work he revealed a David so vivid that it felt alive. Michelangelo’s genius was not invention, but seeing possibility where others saw failure and ruin.
The lesson
Most leadership challenges won’t offer a blank canvas, but imperfect blocks to work with (politics, silos, legacy). It’s the job of great leaders to see the potential that lies beneath the flaws and commit to patiently and precisely remove what doesn’t work, to ultimately mold excellence.
Science Behind the Metaphor
Psychologists Stephen Drigotas, Caryl Rusbult and colleagues coined the Michelangelo phenomenon to describe how relationships help people move toward their “ideal self.” When partners hold positive, accurate images of who we can become, and behave accordingly, we internalize those expectations, molding ourselves into a better form.
Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, a professor at the University of Haifa and the author of the The Arc of Love: How Our Romantic Lives Change Over Time, describes the same phenomena, the fact that our partner's beliefs and behavior toward us can bring us closer to the person we would like to become: "close partners sculpt one another to bring each individual nearer to the ideal self, thus bringing out the best in each other. In such relationships, we see personal growth and flourishing reflected in statements like: 'I'm a better person when I'm with her.’” (Psychology Today, 2019)
Decades of studies confirm this positive dynamic promotes higher performance, well‑being, and relational satisfaction.
Excellence isn’t coerced; it’s elicited.
Nadella at Microsoft Leads Like a Master Sculptor
It’s obvious by now that I like to come back to Satya Nadella’s leadership story. When he became CEO in 2014, Microsoft was burdened by a defensive and siloed “know‑it‑all” culture. Nadella then reframed identity around becoming “learn‑it‑alls.”
His leadership chisel worked this way:
Discerned latent strengths
world‑class engineering talent and a dormant cloud platform.
Removed cultural marble
tolerance for internal rivalry, stigma of failure.
Revealed capability
open‑sourcing (a prior no-no), acquiring GitHub, investing in AI partnerships.
Polished through reinforcement
quarterly growth‑mindset conversations, manager scorecards on coaching quality.
The result: market value from $300 billion to $3 trillion, and a workforce re‑motivated by purpose.
What a Framework for Daily Sculpting Could Look Like Then?
Discern - “What masterpiece is latent here?”
Conduct strength‑spotting interviews; map each person’s energizing skills. Understand what makes people be at their best. Who are they when they are at their best?
Remove - “What is blocking potential?”
Eliminate redundant meetings, clarify decisions, confront corrosive behaviors, eliminate toxicity, don’t discourage people with micromanagement that asphyxiates or endless reports that change little the quality of outcomes.
Elevate - “How do I expose hidden facets?”
Assign stretch projects aligned with the ideal self they claim or wish to be, prioritize tasks against ambitious goals; coach in real time, as the game unfolds, on the side of the bench, don’t wait for the match to end. Ask questions, don’t just tell.
Sustain - “How will excellence endure?”
Celebrate micro‑wins; institutionalize peer‑to‑peer recognition; refresh the narrative regularly, be clear on where we are at each step of the journey so where we are going becomes tangible, push the ambition to new heights, let them know you know they got this.
I invite you to apply this 4-steps framework (D.R.E.S) with your team.
Your job is to spot a latent masterpiece, strip away one obstacle and offer a stretch platform.
Be creative, Be intentional.
In closing
I have a two-parts question for you…
Who in your life do you actively sculpt, and
Who sculpts you back?
“We rise by lifting others.”
Robert Ingersoll
P.S. Before I go, here you have “The Treat,” where I share some of the music that kept me company while writing … Enjoy as you bid farewell to this post
“Lead yourself, Learn to live. Lead others, Learn to Build.”
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