Why was Lorenzo Ghiberti successful?
Ghiberti was always described as a clever man with the energy of an entrepreneur who ruled one of the biggest pre-industrial factories in Florence. Important bronze art pieces were designed and founded by his big staff of employees. He looked for the best workers to be employed: young upcoming artists like Michelozzo, Donatello or Gozzoli, not just workers, but humans with a particular gift. Workers could have been substituted, artists not. Ghiberti had the best under contract and therefore the clients came to him already knowing to remain patient, because they wanted to have the best available on the market in renaissance Florence of the early 15th century.
In the factory of his step father, a goldsmith, Ghiberti learnt, that founding a sculpture is an art like, different from founding a canon or a bell which had. clear purpose. The purpose of a sculpture is rather mental and therefore even more delicate. Each new product could be a failure and destroy the image of the factory, damage the brand Ghiberti. To prevent such a situations, he brought talented artists of different disciplines together. Taking an example: Michelozzo had a more global view like an architect, Donatello had the feeling for the material and a future painter like Gozzoli saw the detailed composition of a story. Those men had a fixed salary and implemented designs, which Ghiberti might have drafted.
Ghiberti organized his factory according to modern rules of a value added chain. He offered all made from one hand. He took over responsability and risks for all steps in between the value chain. This is a new kind of project organisation. He understood that the added value is created by man’s workforce. The better qualified the workforce is, the bigger is the margin. The more steps in the value chain are under his control, the bigger is the margin. Ghiberti recruited young but potential artists who wanted to show up in Florence to stand out over the competition which has been particularly fierce in Renaissance Florence. Ghiberti had a good knowledge of human nature.
The projects in Ghiberti’s factory must have been managed by a person who understood the role of human’s workforce and that the profit comes from there. Business partners liked to have one interlocutor even running the risk of becoming depended from Ghiberti as he delivered ready to use masterpieces. When questions were raised, he took out the administrative books showing to the client that the project is completely underpaid and that the client can be happy to have the agreed order implemented under these conditions. Ghiberti had a strong negotiation position and combined this with his supreme negotiation skills. The partner understood immediately that it would be difficult to change.
