da Vinci Principles
“Tutta la nostra conocenza ha le su origini nelle nostre percezioni.” Da Vinci’s quote translated to English means “all our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” When using the da Vinci principles to observe and monitor business it is important to understand the the basis for business thought. All business leaders use techniques to operate and innovate in their business; some following a method like ones outlined Gelb in How to Think like Leonardo di Vinci others sometimes stumble upon one by accident. When looking at decision makers processes it is always interesting to see how it occurs, often times leaders that I have worked with use da Vinci’s ideas without knowing. Many companies are moving quickly in the current business climate to keep ahead of the curve. CivicPlus, a government web development firm based in Manhattan, Kansas, is trying not only to grow at a rapid rate but also stay ahead of the ever changing web technology curve. This company was named to the Inc Magazine 500/5000 fastest growing companies and works daily to innovate and find a better way to serve clients and do business. Unknowingly CivicPlus uses many of the da Vinci principles, and we will examine ways they currently use and ways they could improve their processes based upon the principles.
Before looking at how CivicPlus uses these principles to advance their business we must have a basic understanding of what the seven principles are and how they can be applied. These seven principles do not need to be used all of the time or even together, but can be applied independently in different aspects of a business it can only strengthen its thought process. The first and in my opinion, the most important of the principles is curiostia, or the quest for further knowledge. Any individual or business that does not have some form of curiostia is likely to fall quickly as the world and competitors will move past their current knowledge. The ability for one to question and continually learn will give them an advantage over those who stand still and who feel like their knowledge is superior or sufficient. The second principle dimostrazione can be tied closely with curiostia as it is the commitment to test knowledge using experience, persistence, and learning from mistakes made. If one questions, and is always searching knowledge it is natural to test it to make sure it will work for them personally. One who does not test or apply knowledge would not have the ability to find out if something they are doing works. These first two ideas focus on knowledge while the next sensazione really focuses on sharpening ones senses to take in the life experiences. While we think of the traditional sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing, businesses have other senses that they need to sharpen. These business senses are things like marketability, competitive analysis, and customer needs. Without these senses, it will be difficult to compete long term in a competitive situation. The fourth principle is sfumato which essentially is the ability to embrace the major paradoxes of life. In a person’s life, they face these paradoxes daily and need to maneuver through them in a way that will lead them to an end that is positive. The same goes for a business, often times business leaders do not look at uncertainty favorably. However, for those who welcome a level of ambiguity can allow for the ability to move fast in business strategy can open positive business opportunities. Arte/scienza is another major portion of da Vinci, this idea is that the science of art and the art of science must be balanced. In business, balancing right and left brain thinkers can help problem solving and thinking to push a business forward. Corporalita is a principle that focuses on pushing forward things like fitness and poise. These traits allow leaders to move a plan forward without losing their cool when something does not go exactly right. One of the most important principles that an executive leader within a business should have would be connessionne. The ability to interconnect all of the other principles allows a leader to assemble a great team and plan to push a business forward. They do not need to be experts or great at all of the principles but knowing how they can help advance a business allow them to embrace the ideas and pull team members together that can be experts in an area.
With an understanding of da Vinci principles, we can examine how a firm either employs them or lacks knowledge or application of an idea. In looking at CivicPlus, we will see that the firm uses many of the ideas that da Vinci used in his life; however, there are several areas that they can improve their use within the organization. Blindly the company applied the principles, but has been successful.
First looking at curiosita, CivicPlus has only embraced true knowledge of their business. As a company that grew amazingly fast, it was difficult for them to wrap their heads around data and knowledge that would actually help the business. The staff and leadership at the time did not understand the importance of knowledge especially with competitive intelligence, market research, and accounting principles. They got by but the lack of searching for this information and the desire to learn the hampered business development process. Since leadership has embraced these ideas, and are always searching for more information the company has enjoyed three consecutive record breaking sales years along with a 95 percent existing customer retention rate. Currently CivicPlus also has a monthly “Innovation Team” which allows the average team member to leave their job and work to innovate products or services to help the company. This process has again promoted the search for knowledge for the everyday employee pushing them to learn more and always improve. These pushes from the inside have allowed CivicPlus to embrace curiosita and greatly improve the company.
One principle that CivicPlus fully embraces is that of dimostrazione, or commitment to test knowledge. Throughout my three year tenure at CivicPlus tests the knowledge of items like functionality desired by clients and prospects as well as our competitors. This has proved to be an important factor in the growth of the company allowing us to appeal to a wider audience, improving prospect conversion rates. Another positive in the ability to look at things considered to be truths is that understanding the competition has allowed for better prostrations in competitive situations. Many of the knowledge that we had on our competitors was incorrect and when actually looking in to it gave us a distinct advantage. In all areas of our company the knowledge is tested, which is fully embraced by all leadership. It continues to be pushed; teams across the company test our corporate beliefs daily.
Until recently, the company had not really embraced sensazione, which I feel like are the senses in business are items like marketability or competitive analysis. These items are the senses of the business and without the knowledge of these items it makes it difficult to actually understand the world in which they compete. These senses of business still need to be pushed forward and plans to do so are lacking at CivicPlus. Today they are done at a basic level but could greatly enhance the business. The ability to sharpen these senses can be important but are hard to do when a company is having success. This causes some stagnation which could ultimately hurt the business in the long run. Principles that the company has ran from are sfumato and arte/scienza. Ambiguity and uncertainty is something that CivicPlus believes that metrics and planning is the only way to push the goals of the company. The ability for them to embrace some uncertainty is important especially since technology moves amazingly fast. If ambiguity of the future was embraced this could allow for the future development to move quicker and react to trends in the industry faster than having everything planed out for the foreseeable future. While it is important to have a solid plan, some flexibility is necessary to allow for quick movements if the paradigm shifts. Arte/scienza that embraces both left and right brain thinking has also been difficult in the organization. This is caused mostly by the leadership team members not having diverse backgrounds and ways of thinking. The team is made up of all linear thinkers who have a hard time understanding and seeing more creative thought. The organization sets goals and then will establish a way to get there; this is all done without much discussion or creative thought. The non-linear thought occurs when a plan fails and then something else is needed. Both of these ideas would greatly improve an already impressive company, but some large shifts in thought would need to occur for it to be implemented fully. When looking at the principles overall, connessionne comes in to play. The idea of how everything comes together is amazingly important. If a company and its leaders do not understand how all parts of the company work together, it would be difficult to have a successful organization. Over the years, CivicPlus has struggled with silos in the departments and continue to battle that issue. Leadership has pushed the importance of all areas of the company, but, it is often hard to get departments to respect and understand each other’s role. Currently the understanding by leadership of the connection has allowed the business to move forward but if the everyday employee cannot find it as well the company’s growth could be hampered. Another part of connessione is the understanding of how all of the six other ideas interact. While each principle may not be used all of the time if one wants to live and lead using da Vinci’s rules each, must be understood, respected and used on a regular basis. Overall, CivicPlus has used many of the da Vinci principles. This has been done on an accidental basis, but, any strong business will by default use some of these principles to move their business forward. Each of these principles can be used on their own. However, without using them together, you will not be able to take full advantage of the benefits. If you use the principle curiosita without dimostrazone, you may have quite a bit of knowledge but without testing it will become very hard to apply. Successful business do not need to preach or truly understand each of da Vinci’s principles. However, ones that do succeed will need to embrace and promote at least part of the principles; maybe by accident. Whether or not a business lives and dies by the seven principles or stumbles upon the use of selected ideas there is little doubt that da Vinci’s ideas for living will create successful people and businesses. So your perceptions of knowledge are important and without understanding them it is impossible to understand your knowledge. Da Vinci’s way of living will get you there so remember, “Tutta la nostra conocenza ha le su origini nelle nostre percezioni.”