Getting Real
You rarely turn to the children’s section for business and societal insight. Yet that is exactly what I got as I read to my daughter this week. A few pages into the Velveteen Rabbit, a short monologue spoke to me.
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.
Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
This was a different angle on the insight that drove me to build Wendworks. I started with the understanding that there is no straight line between inception and success. As the old saying goes, it takes a decade or more to become an overnight success, right? I looked for a metaphor, image, or other way to capture and build this understanding into the DNA of the company and the brand. I wanted it to guide the team as we grow and resonate with our clients and partners. I found my symbol in the form of a river wending its way to the sea.
The power of water over time is among the most powerful forces on the planet. It can carve through solid rock while serving as the lifeblood for entire ecosystems that it creates on its way to the ocean. And yet with all that force, power, and ability to shape its environment, the river’s ultimate ability to find the sea depends on its ability to pivot and turn as it finds a way forward. Rivers navigate the obstacles in their path, gain momentum, and reinvent themselves in a continual process of becoming. A river wending a path to the sea became the symbol for Wendworks and how we approach success and business growth.
As I read the Velveteen Rabbit this week, after lunch on a beautiful early summer day with my daughter on my lap, the insight took on a second, more personal, dimension in the wake of Covid-19 and the largest protest movement for equality and systemic change since the 1960’s. It wasn’t about becoming a captain of industry to shape business landscapes on a grand scale. It was about helping my 4-year-old understand and process why she was at home instead of summer camp with her friends. It was about helping her understand how the police can be both the heroes from her cartoons and a tool to perpetuate systemic inequality. It was about how I will equip her to become someone who will not break easily, does not have to be carefully kept, and has worn off her sharp edges in order to come out stronger and more resilient on the other side.
If I do my job right, as both a parent and a business leader, we will look back on this summer as a time when we all got Real. Hopefully, we won’t all lose our hair, go blind, and wear out our joints, as we put off haircuts and get shabby, but it will take a toll on us. However, that price will be worth it if we use this time to get Real and come out wiser, more focused, and eager to help each other move forward as people and business leaders. We must choose whether we will work together to get Real and emerge better and stronger, or if we will see only ugliness because we were too busy protecting our elbows and sharp corners. We must choose to protect each other, engage in dialogue, and seek understanding rather than focusing inward to just take care of our own. We must choose whether to duck and cover in hope that the storm will pass or jump into the current and harness the flow to carry us forward. As for me and my house, we’re in the current and paddling like mad.
Hope to work with you in the flow,
David Macauley
Wendworks Founder
