Forged at Twilight - Navigating Transformational Change

The Sages' paradox of crafting tongs needing pre-existing tongs highlights twilight as a metaphor for transitions and identity shifts. This murky time symbolizes the potential for new possibilities from uncertain situations. Organizations, like a software company and a biotech start-up, face similar challenges, requiring boundaries to navigate change and redefine identities successfully. #transformation, #change, #identity, #metaphor, #transition, #innovation, #organization

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Colig Experience episode. Get ready to explore bold insights, groundbreaking

(00:10):
leadership strategies and the power of experimentation. Today, we're diving into the fascinating
paradox of creation and transformation, drawing inspiration from ancient wisdom and modern
organizational challenges. We'll uncover how companies navigate their own twilight zones to
achieve successful change. Let's dive in. We have a saying from the sages, a pair of tongs is made

(00:39):
with another pair of tongs, and it points to a paradox reminiscent of the chicken and the egg.
To forge a pair of iron tongs, we need another pair of tongs to hold the tools and molten iron.
But how was that earlier pair made? The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot provides an answer.

(00:59):
It lists 10 things created during twilight on the sixth day of creation, after the entire world was
formed and ready just moments before the first Shabbat began. Among these things is the very
first pair of tongs. Together with that original pair, the list includes other phenomena that the

(01:20):
sages could not explain within the natural order they knew, such as the manna eaten in the desert
and Balam's talking donkey. What stands out is the time chosen for these special creations.
Twilight. Twilight is the murky transition between day and night. That moment of dusk when the sun

(01:43):
has already set, but there is still a bit of light. From the viewpoint of the sages,
twilight is very problematic. It is neither clearly part of the outgoing day,
nor definitively part of the incoming day. It lacks a clear identity. The Mishnah's pairing of
phenomena that defy normal explanation with a time that resists straightforward categorization

(02:07):
is no accident. The message is that, precisely out of situations with no clear identity,
new and surprising possibilities can emerge. We are creatures who crave order. We feel secure when
we can predict what will happen. Most of us have an internal storage of ready-made behavioral

(02:27):
protocols for any situation. When we encounter something, our minds search for the drawer that
seems to fit and pull out the relevant plan of action. Usually, that works well enough, though
sometimes it trips us up, but we already know we are not perfect. We have seen organizations struggle
to move from one orderly state to another. They aim for a transformational leap, a shape-shifting

(02:52):
process while in motion, often when they grow and shift phases, but also under other circumstances.
The catch is that this transition demands a change in identity, which involves passing through a
twilight zone, leaving behind familiar habits, assumptions and beliefs and learning to adopt

(03:12):
new ones. The exit from the bright light of known structures into that ambiguous dusk can be frightening
and it can paralyze an organization that continues to act as though it still belongs to the previous
phase. Twilight is a state where the usual order fails, an unsettling reality where even the most
basic elements are confused and our standard ways of interpreting the world do not apply.

(03:38):
It can generate a powerful anxiety, a sense that our known world is collapsing and we have no tools
to handle this new situation. Some respond by ignoring it altogether, burying their heads in
the sand and hoping that when they look up, someone will have already rearranged reality into something
manageable. Others try to force the old order onto the new situation. This may keep the anxiety at

(04:06):
bay, but it often leads to isolation and deep frustration, like driving on a road and fuming
at everyone coming from the opposite direction. Let us keep going with the creation story and
the Sage's commentary on Twilight. The six days of creation, by definition, are days.

(04:27):
Everything unfolds in the light, apart from the creation of light itself, which we will set aside.
Each day ends with, and there was evening and there was morning, day, meaning that nothing new
is formed during the night. The light lets the world develop in a tidy, step-by-step process.

(04:48):
First light, then water, plants, herbivores, predators, and finally, humans.
Orderly and organized, just as we like it. But the Sage has noticed something missing.
Life contains disruptions, events that seem not to belong to the normal pattern, apparent

(05:09):
deviations from our familiar order. For reasons of their own, they needed to insert the creation
of these anomalies somewhere into those six days, so they placed them at Twilight to show us that
while the clarity of light helps us build an orderly world, the things that truly make it what
it is come from that dimly lit transitional space. That is when borders blur and identities shift,

(05:36):
when we cannot fall back on a ready-made protocol and something new has a chance to emerge.
Another key point in the Sage's choice of timing is that the first pair of tongs and the other
odd phenomena were created late on Friday, at a moment when the world already existed and functioned.

(05:56):
This is crucial. To make the most of the potential found in these strange Twilight moments,
we need frameworks and boundaries that keep us grounded. Turning back to the organizational
sphere, we can sum it up by saying that in order for an organization to undergo a truly
significant change, sometimes called a shift in organizational DNA, it must pass through a period

(06:21):
of blurred identity and uncertainty. This will only succeed if the organization provides the
boundaries and structure that create enough safety to enter such a process. We once worked with a
mid-sized software company that was scaling up rapidly. Their core teams had always relied on
well-defined procedures for product release cycles, but as they tried moving to agile methods,

(06:47):
they found themselves in a Twilight zone. The old methods no longer fit, yet the new ones were not
fully formed. People began to feel disoriented and worried that their familiar roles were evaporating.
It was only when they collectively acknowledged the need for stronger guardrails, clear guidelines

(07:07):
for new team structures and accountability that they were able to navigate this transitional dusk
and redefine their identity. We also consulted for a biotech startup that had flourished in
early research phases but struggled when shifting into clinical trials. The founders had built a
culture of creative freedom with minimal oversight. As they entered the stringent regulatory

(07:32):
environment of clinical work, that freewheeling approach no longer worked. Teams found themselves
in a half-lit world of conflicting rules and a sudden flood of documentation demands.
By carefully setting up support mechanisms, such as dedicated compliance teams and streamlined
processes, they learned how to operate inside that Twilight period, shedding old habits that

(07:56):
no longer served them while keeping the spark of innovation alive. Their ability to provide
structure and clarity within this ambiguous time was what let them emerge stronger on the other side.
We've explored the intriguing paradox of creating tongues and how it reflects the human

(08:17):
desire for order, highlighting the challenges organizations face during periods of transition.
Remember to like, subscribe, and share this episode with your friends and colleagues so
they can also stay updated on the latest news and gain powerful insights. Stay tuned for more updates.