Whilst waiting for an appointment this morning I caught the start of a TV programme about World War II. It opened by explaining that it was presented from the perspective of soldiers who were there, and that the content had been developed by interviewing old ex-servicemen. The narrator went on to explain that given the length of time that has now passed, the number surviving is reducing each year and that those who are still alive are "hidden in plain view". They are simply old men in an aging population, unless you talk to them and uncover the rich stories they have about what happened more than 65 years ago.
That phrase – ‘hidden in plain view’ – makes you think doesn’t it? It makes me think anyway.
What are the things that are hidden in plain view in all our lives because we can’t see them? What are we missing about the relationship we have at home, with partners, with children, with wider family? What are the things we miss about our relationship with friends?
At work, what do we miss about the relationship we have with work colleagues? What do we miss about the teams we lead or work in? What do we miss about customers? What do we miss about the culture of the organisations we’re part of? All because of the unique way we view the world as individuals, the way we process our experiences, the way we think and the thoughts we have?
I think it’s good sometimes to have our view of the world loosened a little, to have the pre-conceived ideas we have whenever we approach any situation shaken a little. In Dante’s famous poem ‘La Commedia Divina’ (the Divine Comedy) there’s a few lines which I think I read somewhere are the most quoted in western literature and (depending on which translation you refer to) they read:
"In the middle of the road of my life
I awoke in a dark wood
Where the true way was wholly lost"
The poem is an allegorical vision of the afterlife so perhaps I’m taking this out of context a little but ….perhaps all of us in business would sometimes benefit from getting lost and not ‘knowing’ the answer, so that we can view things afresh? Perhaps it would enable us to see things which have previously been ‘hidden in plain view’ and thus to be better at what we do?
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