Changing Glasses

I recently heard someone speak about seeing through our same glasses or lens that we always see them through. It really made me think about life and about leading others.

I wear glasses. I need them to see distances. It’s my own fault as I used to make fun of my best friend by calling him ‘four eyes’.

When I don’t wear my glasses, I cannot see patterns or shapes as clearly as when I do. I find things just seem to blend together. But when I do put them on, things become so much clearer, more precise. You could say I start to see things more accurately, more detailed, maybe as they really are.

When we are raised, our parents sort of give us an imaginary pair of glasses. These glasses see things the way we were taught at home or in our community. These glasses make us think a certain way about so many things including other people, values, education, finances, relationships, etc.

Parents don’t always realize it but how they see things can be transferred to their children (and their children’s children etc). Right or wrong, we draw conclusions about people and circumstances based on the glasses we are wearing and the experiences we have had in life.

But I learned life doesn’t have to be only that way. The more I listen to others and learn from them and their experiences, I find the lens changing in my glasses. I somehow learn there are other sides of stories, different ways of approaching challenges and various viewpoints. Sometimes, I like my original lens and glasses but often I seek wise counsel and learn things I didn’t know because I couldn’t see all of the details with my old, scratched glasses.

As a leader in business, I found I was most successful when I surrounded myself with executives who did not think exactly like me. I tried to hire people who were more creative (I am highly organized), more strategic (I am more operational) and more analytical (I lean towards relational). I wanted a leadership team to challenge one another in the boardroom but then leave that room using the same GPS unit with the same coordinates. I wanted them to challenge us to think differently, explore all options and responses but come together as one team appreciating the value that each brought to the table to drive the best possible solution or direction. This was a work in process in my career but later once I figured this out, my teams seemed to excel and so did our organizations. It is good to be different, good to listen to one another and to tap into their experiences as well as your own.

This is not a political blog today. Maybe I am simply trying to say that just like my management teams, the world might be a better place if we all could see life through each other’s glasses instead of simply our own.

Thanks for all that you do and have a great weekend.

With a goal to “help the next guy in line”, Glen Cavallo, a 30+ year healthcare executive has chosen to share the many lessons he has learned with others. Glen does this by serving as a coach/advisor to leaders at all levels of organizations, as a board member and as he presents inspirational speeches at regional, national, annual and awards meetings.