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The Perfect Point of View

18 June, 2018 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Perspective

When you look at a tree, what comes to mind? Do you see:

A marvel of evolution

An organism that has developed to hold as many leaves as possible, maximising surface area so it can catch every passing ray of sunlight.

Tree Intricate

A commercial product

A resource waiting to be harvested, processed, transported and sold. Each tree providing different grades, qualities and uses.

Tree Lumber

An annual sequence

A perpetual cycle of growth, ageing, death and renewal.  All linked to the passing of the seasons as the earth rotates around the sun.

Tree Seasons

An ecosystem

A complex network of predators and prey. A struggle for survival full of danger or opportunity where every ecological gap is filled and exploited.

Tree Predator

Beauty

The marvel of nature.  An environment where you can relax or somewhere to stand and stare and realise how lucky you are to be alive.

Tree Beauty

Decay

Perhaps all you see is death and destruction as a fallen tree rots away, slowly putrefying as fungus, disease and insects overwhelm it.

Tree Decay

There are many ways you can look at a tree, each perspective makes you think of something different.

Points of view

It isn’t just trees. There are a myriad of ways of looking at and thinking about:

  • Hospitals
  • Marketing campaigns
  • Computer systems
  • Supply chains…

The way you think about them is totally dependant on the angle you take. Your point of view will distort your thinking.

Do you understand your business?

Leonardo da Vinci said that to understand something you need to look at it in at least three different ways.

Lucky me

My default perspective is middle-aged white male manager. Fortunately, when it comes to business and organisations that is undoubtably the best perspective to have.  So I can happily ignore Mr da Vinci’s advice.

You, however, might not be so fortunate.

Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes! ~ Leonardo da Vinci

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Images by: Paul, Stefan, petalouda62, _paVan_, Mike Green, Armin S Kowalski, H – – J

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: assumptions, human nature, ignorance, innovation, what don't you see

About the Author

James Lawther
James Lawther

James Lawther is a middle-aged, middle manager.

To reach this highly elevated position he has worked in numerous industries, from supermarket retailing to tax collecting.  He has had several operational roles, including running the night shift in a frozen pea packing factory and carrying out operational research for a credit card company.

As you can see from his C.V. he has either a wealth of experience or is incapable of holding down a job.  If the latter is true this post isn’t worth a minute of your attention.

Unfortunately, the only way to find out is to read it and decide for yourself.

www.squawkpoint.com/

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