May 17, 2010 by  Ashley Guberman

There is a saying that “fish discover water last.”  While we can’t really know if that’s true, it made me wonder what do people discover last.

If I had to guess, I would say that it’s our filters – the lenses through which we see the world, and the set of assumptions and beliefs through which we filter almost every experience we have in life.  Not only are most of us oblivious to our filters, but even when we become aware of them, seldom do we keep that awareness in the forefront of our mind.  And why would we?  We all think that our filters are correct! For example, “That’s just the way I see things,” or “That’s the way the world works.”

As a quick example, read the following question and think about your answer before you continue reading:

Would you rather a lion eat you or an elephant?

Cartoon  ElephantCartoon Lion

The question has a deliberate ambiguity built into it that many people filter out.  Look at the following interpretations to see how your filters came into play.
When you read the question, what did you really see?

  • Would you rather a lion eat you or [would you rather] an elephant [eat you]?
  • Would you rather a lion eat you or [would you rather a lion eat] an elephant

Here’s another example:

Did you see the girl with the telescope?

What did you actually read?

  • Did you see the girl [by looking through] the telescope?
  • Did you see the girl [who has] the telescope?

Both of those questions are deliberate examples unresolved ambiguity.  And while the ambiguity in life is seldom so blatant, we filter things of far greater importance hundreds of times every day.  We do it when we interpret tone in what somebody says to us; when we attribute intent to the actions of others; when we come up with reasons “why” things happened one way rather than another; or when we carefully choose what or how to deliver a message with the intent of creating a specific response in others.

There’s nothing wrong with our filters; they make life quicker and simpler to manage.  The caution comes when we are unaware of what filters we have in play at any moment, or when our filters are so strong that it becomes more difficult to look at things from other perspectives, or when we are blocked from making forward progress on our goals and we’re not sure why.

So if you or somebody you know is tired of being eaten by lions or elephants, contact Primary Goals.   Let’s expand some of those filters in the interest of opening our eyes to new and brighter possibilities.

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Primary Goals sits at the intersection of three core ideas about communication:
  • Leaders create vision by communicating a compelling future to their teams.
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In all cases, it’s about Conversations for Committed Results.  That’s our Primary Goal.  

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