Cathedral Thinking

Our family went on a Mediterranean cruise a few years ago that started and ended in the city of Barcelona.  We spent a day visiting the sites in Barcelona.  I remember visiting the Basílica de la Sagrada Família, which currently holds the distinction as the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world.  The church was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Construction began on the church on March 19, 1882 under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano, though Gaudí took over when Villar resigned in 1883.  The project would become Gaudí's magnum opus, and he would devote the remainder of his life to the project.  At the time of his death in 1926, only about a quarter of the church construction was complete.  Gaudí is buried in the church's crypt.  Construction has continued since that time, and the hope is to finish building the church in 2026 on the 100th anniversary of Gaudí's death.

One-hundred and forty-four years seems like an awfully long time to finish a construction project, at least until it's realized that most of the famous churches and other structures from antiquity took far longer to complete.  For example, the Great Wall of China took over 2,000 years to build (and contrary to common belief, you cannot see the Great Wall from outer space).  Angkor Wat, the temple complex in Cambodia took over 400 years to build.  Westminster Abbey in London required nearly 500 years to build.  St. Peter's Basilica in Rome required 120 years of construction. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris required over 100 years to finish, while St. Paul's Cathedral in London required only 35 years to build.  It's clear that even with modern construction and engineering, 144 years is not too far out of the ordinary.

I can imagine that it would be hard to oversee the design and construction of a building knowing that you won't be around to see it finished.  I remember when my last hospital started building a new critical care tower and how disappointed I was when I realized that I would never be around to work in the new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit that it housed.  It's a common sentiment, but it raises an issue that I think is relevant to leadership in general.  

The concept is known as "cathedral thinking", which is commonly defined as a mindset in which 'long-term projects or goals are initiated for the sake of or for benefit of future generations.  When Christopher Wren started work on St. Paul's Cathedral, he envisioned a church that would be around for future generations, long past his own death.  Similarly, when Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed and built St. Peter's Basilica, they knew that they wouldn't be around to see the end result.  

"Cathedral thinking" means thinking about the long-term future.  Jonathan Thompson recently proclaimed in his TED talk that "cathedral thinking is dead".  He argues that we have somehow lost the ability to take pleasure in doing things that do not immediately benefit us, even though we know that future generations will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor.  He suggests that we can recover the lost art of "cathedral thinking" by focusing again on purpose and how we can connect what we are doing today towards a better future.  "Cathedral thinking" also involves a certain degree of selflessness and prioritizing the the well-being of future generations over personal and immediate gratification.  "Cathedral thinking" depends upon a far-reaching vision, a well thought-out plan, and a shared commitment to long-term implementation.  

The 20th century French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote in his memoir Flight to Arras, "A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."  What are you doing to transform that rock pile in your organization today to the cathedral of tomorrow?