Perspective Widens Vision: What Are You Missing?
My Story
When I was a child, our family often went on bush walks. I have one very vivid memory of my sister and me running ahead on the track, as children do, when we suddenly stopped.
Up ahead, sitting on the path, was some kind of animal.
We froze. Then we ran back to Mum and Dad as fast as we could and told them what we had seen, secretly hoping it would be gone by the time we got back there.
Our parents reassured us. “Stay by us. It will be okay.”
As we walked on, they asked us to show them where we had seen it.
“Just up around that next corner.”
As we came around the bend, they asked again, “Where did you see it?”
“It’s there. See, up ahead. It hasn’t moved.”
As we got closer, they both started to laugh.
It was not a wild animal at all. It was a tree stump.
We see through our own lens
That memory still makes me smile. But it also reminds me of something important about leadership.
In that moment, what my sister and I saw felt completely real. Our environment, our imagination and a little bit of fear shaped what we saw. It took someone else, with a different perspective, to see what was actually there.
Leaders are no different.
We all view situations through our own lens. That lens is shaped by who we are, our experiences, the environment we are in and the pressures we are carrying. Most of the time it serves us well. But it also means we all have blind spots.
Capable leaders often miss what someone else can see clearly, not because they lack ability, but because they are looking from one place.
Key lesson
Our view feels right until a different perspective is given.
Vision is not only about looking further ahead. It is also about seeing more widely. When we invite other perspectives, we see our situation more accurately and make better decisions about where we are heading.
Understanding your own lens
One of the tools I use with leaders and teams is CliftonStrengths. It helps people understand their natural patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.
That matters, because our strengths shape what we notice. Someone who naturally thinks strategically may see the path ahead quickly. Someone who leads with empathy may notice how people are feeling. Someone who values analysis may see the risk others have missed.
None of these views is wrong. But each one is incomplete on its own.
When we understand why we see things the way we do, we become more open to the perspectives of others.
Practical application
• Ask yourself, “What am I missing?” Pause before a decision and assume there may be something you have not seen.
• Ask someone who sees things differently. Choose a person whose strengths, role or experience differ from yours.
• Listen without defending. Let their view land before you respond.
• Test your assumptions. Ask, “What else could this be?”
• Understand your own lens. Reflect on how your strengths, experience or current pressure may be shaping what you see.
Three learnings
1. What we see feels real, even when it is incomplete. Our environment and experience shape our view more than we realise.
2. Everyone has blind spots. Capable leaders are not immune; they simply need others to help them see.
3. Other perspectives widen vision. When we invite different views, we see more clearly and choose our direction more wisely.
Conclusion
My parents did not dismiss what we saw. They reassured us, walked with us and helped us look again. That is what good perspective does. It does not ridicule. It helps us see what is actually there.
This week, be willing to look again. Ask what you might be missing, and invite someone with a different view to walk the track with you.
Famous quote
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” — Wayne Dyer
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