Lenses

When I was a kid, I had great vision – didn’t need contact lenses or glasses. As I got older…well…that changed. I remember driving one night in my 20’s – the stoplights looked like starbursts (not the candy), and the signs were completely blurry. Yea, I needed glasses. I use them to see distances, but I don’t need them to read. I think that makes me nearsighted. I always forget which one is which. Anyway.

There are different types of lenses out there – microscope lenses to see the things invisible to the naked eye, telescope lenses to see the sky, camera lenses to take amazing pictures, and magnifying lenses to help us read small print. More or less, they all do the same thing – help us see something more clearly.

But there are other types of lenses out there as well that help us see and interact with the world in different ways. They are more figurative in nature, but they can either cloud our vision or provide clarity. I’m talking about rose-colored glasses, of course. Ok, no I’m not – but sort of.

I wrote a piece recently on LinkedIn about companies and corporations seeing the world exclusively through a business lens – meaning that everything is viewed as an asset that can be acquired, repurposed, or simply discarded…even human beings (and sometimes especially human beings). Viewing the world through a spreadsheet can help justify and rationalize decisions that typically don’t take people into account.

Seeing the world through a human lens, however, changes the equation dramatically. Seeing the world through a human lens radically alters how we interact with the world and the people around us – from the smallest of gestures to the grandest of decisions, and everything in between.

As an example, I worked for a CEO that prioritized people over profitability. He would find alternative ways to reduce expenses at the company to avoid layoffs. The result was a passionate workforce, crazy growth, and off-the-chart valuation.

And while I’m forced to wear glasses when I drive (well, I guess I’m not forced to do so – but it wouldn’t go well for anyone if I didn’t wear my glasses), I have complete freedom to choose the figurative lens (or lenses) through which I view the world. We all carry all the lenses with us all the time – which gives us the opportunity to be deliberate in how we see and engage with our situations and circumstances.

Big news flash…none of us are perfect. I try to make a conscious decision to use my human lens the most, but I don’t always succeed. That’s part of being human…and that’s ok. It’s knowing that we have a choice when it comes to lenses that will (hopefully) lead us to looking through the human lens most often.

Until next week.

Cheers,

Andy

(All written content created the old-fashioned way.)