Kintsugi (or kintsukuroi) is a special technique for repairing broken pottery. Instead of hiding the damage, it highlights it and makes it part of the design. It is believed to have originated in the 15th century, when the Japanese shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent his broken tea bowl to China for repair. When it was returned, it had been “patched” with metal staples that were both ugly and impractical. As a result, Japanese craftsmen developed a new method, a more beautiful and meaningful one, where the break is not concealed but transformed into art.
The beauty of this technique is that over time it became a philosophy: scars are not seen as flaws, but as part of an object’s history.
Kintsugi can also be seen in everyday life, not only in personal, but also in professional contexts. Breaks and difficulties are not something that destroy us, but part of our story which, if we allow it, can make us more valuable and unique.
Throughout my life, I have made both good and bad decisions. The bad ones, however painful they were, became my greatest space for growth. I learned to first acknowledge my mistakes to myself, and only then to those who needed to know. Today, I do not regret any of those moments. It is precisely because of those “breaks” that I have become who I am today, stronger and more authentic, and I would not change that for anything. This does not mean it was not painful. It was very painful. But the pain passed, while what I became remained.
In the business world, when leaders acknowledge their own mistakes, they are essentially practicing kintsugi. They reduce the fear of failure and encourage openness. They show people that mistakes are simply another way of learning, not the end of the road. Failure then becomes a point of growth, and mentorship plays a key role in this process.
A mentor is someone who, in moments of “breaking,” does not only offer a technical solution but also helps shift perspective. They are the ones holding the “gold dust” of experience, helping you see future strength in your fragments. A good mentor does not fix things for you, but teaches you how to integrate your scars into a wiser way of leading. With the right support, failure stops being a burden and becomes the fastest point of growth.
In organizations, team reorganizations naturally occur over time, reconstructions through which teams go through change. In those moments, it is important not to erase everything that came before, but to keep what matters: people, knowledge, and processes, and connect them in a new and better way.
Throughout my career, I have not only experienced such processes, but also led them. And I can tell you, it was not easy. Fixing systems that had operated the same way for years, while the organization itself had outgrown its own framework, was a real challenge. We went in circles, repeating the same mistakes… and yes, it was difficult. But we eventually managed to realign ourselves. Today we often say: “If we survived that, we can survive anything.”
Just as in kintsugi, where an object becomes stronger and more unique after repair, organizations also grow stronger when they integrate learned mistakes into their processes. In this way, they build resilience - not perfection.
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