By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to think more strategically. Reading time 2:57.

Leaders see more than meets the eye. They absorb more than observe. They see well beyond what the Snellen Charts measure that turns every eye doctor’s office into a mini Spelling Bee.

Those letter-littered charts always begin with a big letter E and then feature a series of ever diminishing squiggles that eventually end in a blur for most of us.

But those squiggles never blur in a leader’s eyes. That’s because leaders see much more than letters on a chart. Leaders see what the Snellen Chart doesn’t measure—depth perception and peripheral vision.

As their vision becomes more strategic, more in-depth, more all encompassing—their thinking becomes more productive, more creative and more innovative. And as their vision becomes more than letter perfect they read more than what’s on the chart

No wonder the most effective leaders see their SUPER vision ability as a key to their supervision capability.

Their SUPER vision is a creative reframing of the problem at hand, a type of mental Drano that unclogs the thinking pipes and helps you develop breakthrough strategies.

Consider the pub owners in England years ago who were trying to sell more beer. With more routine supervision they would have stocked more varieties of beer and conducted more sales promotion events around the new beers. Good but not good enough.

It took a strategic leader with more SUPER vision ability who saw the bigger picture to generate sales with a very different strategy, a creative reforming of the problem at hand.

The leader focused more on cleaning the restrooms in particular. In time, more women frequented the pub which of course drew more male patrons buying even more beer.

And in another tribute to SUPER vision, consider the invention of the first fly swatter. With more routine supervision — simply reading the Snellen Chart as it were -you would focus more on developing a light weight material that you could quickly swing to smash a fly. Good but not good enough.

Sure the plastic flyswatter was light enough but it took a strategic leader with SUPER vision to see the bigger picture. That leader punched holes in the plastic flyswatter. The inventor noticed that flies could sense the air pressure change whenever the flyswatter hovered over them ready for the kill and consequently they escaped. The holes made a successful flyswatter whole. With SUPER vision more than supervision.

The leadership lesson is clear whether you’re selling beer or swatting flies: With your more strategic SUPER vision, leaders see what really counts in-depth. And off the charts.

Today’s ImproveMINT

Hone your SUPER vision to keep your leadership thinking in mint condition.

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