In this solo podcast episode, the speaker explores why entrepreneurs and leaders often feel frustration and anxiety when new initiatives fail to materialize. He opens with a poem attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi that distinguishes three stages of work: laborer (hands only), craftsman (hands + head), and artist (hands + head + heart). Building on this metaphor, he presents a four‑level framework for sustaining creative change: 1) Thought (clarity of the idea, akin to air and the head), 2) Speech (naming and communicating the idea, linked to fire), 3) Feeling (embodying the idea emotionally, linked to water/heart), and 4) Action (grounded execution, linked to earth/hands). He explains how each level energizes the next and why neglecting any level leads to stalled change. The speaker recommends regular (daily or weekly) self‑checks on each level—asking whether the idea is clear, named, felt, and being acted upon—to keep creative change alive and turn entrepreneurs into “artists” of their work, ultimately creating higher‑impact outcomes for their companies and stakeholders.
Chapters
Why would you say that it's really frustrating and gives us a lot of anxiety when change does not happen? When we want to implement new initiatives in our work, in our companies, when we are full of nice and, let's say, wonderful ideas that suddenly we start implementing and then nothing happens. Let's talk about it. Have you been in a situation where you have a lot of new ideas after vacations or after really resting on the weekend, and you come to your company and you want to share these new ideas, this vision, these dreams to your team, and maybe they buy it? You communicate it in a proper way, they see the value in it, But then after a while nothing happens. That's when you might start tweaking and doing some changes into your original idea and the first actions. But when results do not happen, you start coming back to the actions. You start doing things in a different way or finding new ways to manage the result that you have in your head, the expectation that you have. And then again, it doesn't happen. And this causes a lot of frustration and anxiety to entrepreneurs, to founders, to CEOs. Why? Because in our hearts, we want the best for the company. We might even want the best for our employees, for the team, for our shareholders, and why not all the stakeholders in the company. But it depends on how we execute. And let me start with a poem, or at least let's say some quotes from Saint Francis of Assisi, and it goes like He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist. Let's talk about this for a minute. What happens when we are only doing? When we are only doing, it means that we are only working with our hands. In a way, it's something mechanic. We are doing things like if it was Groundhog Day, and every day we just show up and apply our knowledge and the way we do things. But that's a really superficial level of creating change, right? And it might not be enough because actually we are not implying the second level in this poem, which I— the first time that I read it, it really shook me because it showed me a way in which we fall when we are in the automatic pilot, when we are doing things without an illusion, when there's no energy, when there's no pleasure, when there's no joy. We are just implementing stuff, and that makes our workday, being with our team members instead of, of having this community of people working towards a dream, it becomes a nightmare. Now, the second level, it's not only working with hands but also with the head. It means that there is this vision. We are starting to not only apply our skills, but we are also behaving in a certain way that it helps us to create something more meaningful. That's what San Francis called being a craftsman, a craftswoman. In a way, it's an artisan. It's this kind of person that it's not only doing things, but there's certain creativity. There's a skill. There's a point of view that makes this work, this activity becoming more meaningful. However, that doesn't reach the highest level of potential of achieving creative change, which has to do with not only working with the hands. Action, our full body, our— but it also involves the head. It involves this vision, these thoughts that we might have. And the third level is working with our heart. So it's really being implicated into what we are doing. It's bringing our values, our purpose, who we are. It's bringing our whole self into what we are doing. And this allows us to become artists. And this podcast is about developing our inner artist and putting it into work for our company, for our venture, for our team, so we are not only working, so we are becoming artists. And to do this in a consistent way, I want to bring to you 4 levels, or 4 aspects that you need to take care of to make sure that this creativity, that these changes that you want to apply really work for you, for your purpose, for your company, and that it creates a higher good, it creates a positive impact. The first level is on the level of thought. It's this idea, and thoughts are in a way similar to the air. You cannot control the air. However, you can in a way be more in touch with with your breath, because breath is air, right? So you can be more in touch with how you are breathing, and in a way you can be more aligned to our inner breaths, and your thoughts are immediately going to be calmer, are going to be brighter. You can even be more focused. So the first level is about thinking appropriately about what you want to achieve. And this is the part of Saint Francis that says the head. So first, you need to have your head in the appropriate mood, being clear about what you want to achieve. The second level has to do with the speech. It involves, according to shamanic traditions, it has to do with fire. And this fire is something that in a way will bring more energy into this air, into this something that is totally ethereal, and it's going to help you to activate it. And how does this work? Once you have a dream, this idea, you want to name it. You want to say what it is. And also, why not, to say something positive about it. So by saying this, writing it, and hopefully you can name it, you can say it, or you can share it with your team, You can share it with your wife, with your husband, with whoever you want to co-create this idea with. You talk about it. And by doing this, you go into the 3rd level, which has to do with feeling it. You need to feel what this idea that you are giving a description with the speech— so you have the thought, you named it, and then You feel. So how does this feel inside your body? So by doing that, you are bringing to the level of, let's say, the water, and it's closer to your heart. By having this sensation, you're feeling it. There is energy in your body. So this energy is not in your head, it's not all over the place like air, but you are also giving it a dimension of sharing it with other people and even sharing it with yourself. And then there's the level of the heart, where you are activating it directly in your body. And this is going to bring that idea into your unconscious level as well. So you were really conscious about the thought, about this idea, and then you're also feeling it in your body. And your body, by doing this, by feeling it, is going to have The extra energy for this thought to be activated, because if you don't feel it, you will forget about it. You won't even know what— in which direction does this idea is coming to. And the 4th one is action, taking action, and that has to do with the earth energy, with grounding. So that's where your hands are. This is where the laborer level is being activated when you are doing the things. You can be typing or whatever, but you are moving, you're acting. And what I suggest is that you take the time to evaluate every week or even every morning how are you in these 4 levels on this project or this vision that you really want to see in the world. Do you have a clear idea of what it is? Can you name it and can you describe it in a clear way? Can you also feel it? What does it feel to you? Do you have really a motivation? Are you happy about it? This brings you joy or not? If not, you should go back to the drawing room and to think about it in the proper way and to describe it properly. Because Creative change needs to be felt positively. And then you work. You do the work and you make your dreams happen. So this invitation is for you to become an artist in your work, in your company, and to create a new world.
