Summer logbook #2 — a tribute to the chrysalis nobody sees

Last week, leaving a client meeting in the middle of the city, I walked past a square of lavender. Dozens of butterflies of every colour, moving among the bees. And as usual, I thought about what those butterflies had been through before they were there.

We celebrate the butterfly and we forget the chrysalis

We always celebrate the butterfly. Its freedom, its colours, the fact that it finally flies. We forget the chrysalis. That much longer time spent building in the dark, protected, sheltered from a world it knows by heart — even as that world limits it.

Leaving the cocoon is a risk, not just a liberation. The butterfly may understand this better than we do: its life becomes short the moment it flies.

Paying tribute to the shell

Those shells we build to protect ourselves and that we dare not leave because they once saved us, before they began to hold us back. A client of mine spent months working on the image he projected: a man who seemed insensitive, wired only to solve problems.

He called me a year later. He laughs with his team now, even on heavy days. And on Sundays, he switches off and goes on holiday, something he had forgotten how to do.

How many chrysalises have you been through?

I feel like I am constantly moving from one chrysalis to the next. Every larger CHRO role was one. Since founding Manentiel, I have already been through at least three, as I kept discovering new things about myself.

The chrysalis is not a sign of failure. It is a sign that something is being built even if others cannot see it yet.

And you: which shell are you still wearing today, the one that protected you yesterday and is now holding you back?

To go through your own chrysalis with method and safety, explore the Manentiel sparring partner programme at manentiel.com.