Is Your Business Becoming Blurry?

Have you ever gone to a 3-D movie and taken off the special glasses? Worse yet, have you ever gone to a 3-D movie and not bothered to put the glasses on? The scenery is really not all that attractive and everything appears, well, blurry. Those glasses are intended to help you get the full effect and even make the movie more real and exciting. Wouldn't make sense not to put them on. You need the right lens -- right?

Yet, in a similar fashion we can continually look at our business through a cloudy or distorted lens. Because of our thinking, which usually comes from our attitude, we see things that may not be there. Or more importantly, we miss some things that actually are there. Perhaps the most important thing we miss or fail to see clearly is opportunity. Much like beauty, opportunity is usually in the eye of the beholder.

Perhaps you are familiar with the old story about two shoe salesmen who were sent to Africa. The first one cables back to the company's headquarters: "Situation hopeless: No one wears shoes." The second salesperson, looking at the identical information, says: "Situation ideal: Everyone needs shoes!" Same situation, but two very different conclusions.

The first step in the coaching process is to Face Reality. But what is the true reality? Are we using our own lens or special glasses to see our business the way we choose to see it -- good or bad? Sometimes we need someone to come alongside of us and guide us in seeing the situation more clearly. Bringing in another set of eyes may help us see things a little differently -- or at least give us someone who might be honest enough to tell us that we need to put our glasses on.

Now, doesn't that look better?