One of the greatest gifts I got from being part of AJC Coaching School this year was getting to know and being inspired by the brilliant leadership coach Jamie Damsker . Jamie has a rare clarity, and a powerful creative way with language.
One of the biggest things I took from our conversations was a renewed aliveness around what he calls the Michelangelo distinction.
Supposedly, when Michelangelo was asked how he created the statue of David, he said: “The David was already there. All I did was remove the marble that wasn’t David.” To me, this describes the heart of what great coaching and great leadership actually is.
Several years ago, I saw something: we are all David.
We are already the thing we are trying so hard to become.
But most of us don’t know it – not because we are incapable, but because we’ve become so used to the stone around us that we mistake it for who we are. Stress, pressure, insecurity, self-doubt, overthinking, perfectionism, old stories – after a while it all feels normal. And instead of seeing the beauty inside, we look at ourselves and see an ugly block of stone that needs fixing.
That’s also why the world is so addicted to an additive approach. Add tools. Add strategies. Add habits. Add discipline. Add another system.
Some of it is useful, but much of it is an attempt to compensate for something that was never broken in the first place. The real transformation is not additive. It’s subtractive. It’s removing what isn’t you. It’s seeing through the noise that covers what’s already there.
When I coach from this place, my job becomes very simple. I don’t need to fix my clients. I don’t need to install confidence or clarity like a software update. I simply need to stand in the knowing that their brilliance is already there – and help them remove what is in the way. And the moment you start seeing people as David, leadership changes. Business changes. The world becomes full of possibility again.
So if there’s one thing I want to encourage you with today, it’s this:
Look for the David within you! ✨
And ask yourself where you’re still holding onto the stone around your core brilliance that isn’t really you.
The David is not something you need to create.
It’s something you get to uncover.
