What is it you see?

This is a scale showing my last weigh in. That's what you see, but is it really? Do you see a weight that has gotten out of control and puts me at a health risk? Or do you see a weight that is 20 lbs lighter than I was 2 months ago. Maybe this is quite an achievement for me? Why might different people see the same thing but come to two totally different conclusions on what they saw?

See this smile? What do you see? Someone flirting with you? Maybe its an act of kindness? Or maybe yet, its a little bit of cynicism? How do you know? What makes something you see clear to you?







Seeing is not just an activity of the eyes. The reality is that how you feel and what you do is not about what you see, it's what you see it is.

Seeing is really about perceiving and perceiving is more than seeing. When we encounter our environment and observe what it entails, we take in more than data (199 lbs or a smile), we take in information (a good weight or a bad weight and the intent of the smile). Information is data that we have given context and the context we give is based on biases and filters that are part of our sense-making system. Each one of us has one and each is different from all others.

There are far too many examples of this because it goes on all the time and is even happening right now. You see words, but you make sense of them in context. Who wrote them and does the author have credibility or not? How are you feeling at the time you read them? Are you confident and hopeful or are you fearful or cynical? Are you distracted at the time or are you giving what you see your full attention?

Someone says something to you. Do you trust them or not? Do they make you feel good about yourself or not? What are your needs at the time? What are your expectations of this person?

Your boss gives you feedback. You do not just see the feedback, you see what it is, what it means to you based on the context that defines your relationship with your boss and preconceived notions or biases about the company, the boss, and your peer employees.

Your gender, your age, your personality, your culture, your experiences, knowledge, beliefs and more determine more than what you see, these control what you see it is. Learning to trust yourself less with your initial response to what others do and say will help you be less judgmental. Be intentional to shine a light on your perceptual biases and filters to understand and validate the context so that the data you receive is not distorted information.

To be a good leader you must develop clarity in what you see others do. How do you do that? How do you sharpen your vision.

Faith, which is trusting not what you see but what you know to be true, is essential in the maturity of SEEING WHAT IT IS!