As leaders and owners we must operate with our eyes wide open, aware of our biases and guarded against them painting our own virtual reality.
A local Family Business leader complained of Kaleidoscope like vision from time to time. “A kaleidoscope is an optical instrument, typically a cylinder with mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to repeated reflection in the mirrors.”
Ocular migraines cause vision loss or blindness in one eye that lasts less than an hour. You can have them along with or after a migraine headache. Experts sometimes call them visual, retinal, ophthalmic, or monocular (meaning one eye) migraines.
Vision is a powerful gift. Please don’t confuse it with sight.
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”
— Helen Keller
Family businesses, small businesses, women owned, veteran owned all need vision.
One of the themes we have been working on with a number of our clients, is operate with your eyes wide open. Despite what we see our mind creates our own reality. “In a sharp, concise TED talk, Issac Lidsky explains “how what we see is a unique, personal, virtual reality that is masterfully constructed by our brain.” He acknowledges that what we see can change how we feel, but he goes further by also explaining that “what you feel can change what you see.”
Citing fascinating studies he points out how subjects’ estimates as to how fast a man was walking was influenced by whether or not they were shown a picture of a cheetah or a turtle; or that subjects believed that a hill was steeper if they had just exercised; or that a landmark appeared farther away when subjects were wearing a heavy backpack.”
His 11 minute Ted Talk is worth the listen:
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Family businesses, small businesses, women owned, veteran owned all need vision. We need a plan. We need to know that one of the keys to our success is to have a routine, to follow the routine and complete the routine. We all have cognitive biases. Cognitive biases are tendencies to think in certain ways that can lead to systematic deviations from a standard of rationality or good judgment, and are often studied in psychology and behavioral economics.
Some common cognitive biases are:
Not invented here
Aversion to contact with or use of products, research, standards, or knowledge developed outside a group. Related to IKEA effect.
Bandwagon effect
“The tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. Related to groupthink and herd behavior”
“As leaders and owners we must operate with our eyes wide open, aware of our biases and guarded against them painting our own virtual reality. Guard against what you think you see, don’t deceive yourself. We should guard against awefulizing.”
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