Success Comes In Stages: Picasso, You And Your Organization

As you or your organization go through your different stages and transitions, stop and acknowledge the various successes that you accomplish along the way. Do not just wait for the big end result—you could miss out on some amazing “smaller” masterpieces along the way.

So often when we look at a successful person or a successful organization we tend to think of his/her success in terms of “Ah, she has finally arrived. She is NOW successful.” What we often overlook is that that person’s “ultimate” success probably came in stages of success. The famous 20th century artist, Pablo Picasso, is a good example.

Ultimately, Picasso is most known for his pinnacle style, Cubism. In Cubism, Picasso viewed the form, e.g., a human being, in terms of geometric shapes which he then rearranged, camouflaging the forms in the geometry. However, Picasso went through several STAGES in his artistic evolution before arriving at Cubism. For example, from 1901 to 1904, Picasso’s style manifested a strong sense of melancholy and poetic nuances in what has been called “The Blue Period.” The Blue Period also marked the transition in his style from classicism, in which he was strongly trained and accomplished, to the abstract style of his later cubism.

One of his works from this transitional Blue Period was a 1903 painting, best known as the,” The Absinthe Drinker,” although formally named “Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto.” Christie’s auction house sold this painting in London in 2010 for $56.63 million. Not a bad chunk of change for a painting that was done in one of an artist’s evolving stages! By the way, the painting was sold by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s charitable foundation with proceeds going to its work promoting the arts. Ah, the arts supporting the arts . . . gotta' love it!

Pay closer attention to the smaller successes that occur in your own transitional phases or those of your organization. By focusing on and acknowledging them, you will be less likely to let some of your own “lesser” masterpieces slip by unnoticed.