Visual Illiteracy

Do you see what's going on around you?

The environment in which you and your Creatives operate is dynamic and has many aspects to it. You need to identify these aspects and understand how they relate to one another. The reality of the world around you, though, is often clouded by your education, professional history, cultural background, and other experiences and biases you've picked up over time. What's obvious to you may be invisible to others, and vice versa. Something could be happening right in front of you and you might not be able to grasp the significance that others think is common sense. Even if you have perfect vision, you may not be able to understand what you see.

This visual illiteracy hurts your ability to plan for the future or respond to changes in the present. The term "visual illiteracy" usually refers to your physical ability to understand concepts presented visually. For me, though, I think it nicely describes the inability to understand the concepts surrounding us in our operating environment.

What causes visual illiteracy? Some of the problem comes from things you did. The history of your firm ("that's the way we've always done things") can be a big factor. Unique aspects of your cultural upbringing, such as a concept of lifetime employment, could color your views on personnel matters. And of course, your education plays a big role. A friend was telling me how Microsoft poses some intriguing questions in interviews just to see if you can think creatively. He told me one of them was "How would you move Mt Fuli?" There are probably all sorts of answers that can be derived from engineering, physics, or geology, but I studied public policy...my response, almost immediately, was "I'd change the name of the mountain to something else, and rename a different mountain 'Mount Fuji.' The names of mountains are arbitrary, and so now Mount Fuli would be somewhere else." Not a bad idea, if I do say so myself, but it points to the fact that I never considered anything buy a public policy response because I wasn't really trained in anything else.

But does this matter? I mean, as long as you come up with an answer to your problems, does visual illiteracy really have an effect?

Well, sure. In the first place, you might not even notice when a problem is emerging, until the effects become so obvious you can't help but see it, and by then it's likely too late. You might also end up ignoring some very worthwhile courses of action because they simply wouldn't occur to you, or you might turn down an employee's suggestion because you don't see how it could work when in fact it might be perfect. So yeah, you should assume this can hurt you.

So what do you do about it? Well, it's tough for an individual to get rid of all their biases, but you can try to break some of them. First, accept the fact that just because you've always done something a certain way doesn't mean it's still appropriate -- if you can really embrace that idea, you'll be ahead of the game. Try to broaden your mind by introducing yourself to new fields, whether in school or informally. If you write software, take an art class. If you're a graphic designer, subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. Read a book. Basically, do something that helps you think in different ways.

If you can't wipe your slate clean and start with a completely fresh outlook, that's OK...no one can really do that. Rather than ignoring what you know, complement it by surrounding yourself with people who think differently. This is one advantage of the team approach to problem-solving, but you blow that advantage if you surround yourself with a group of people with similar backgrounds. Shake it up a little bit, get a little diversity in your think tank, and remember that if you're going to work with other people, it's probably a good idea to listen to what they say, too.

Visual illiteracy is a bad thing for a leader. When you're responsible for long-range planning or for responding to emerging opportunities, you can't afford to miss things just because of your biases. Do your best to improve your understanding of the world around you, and while you're at it, take a few extra steps to mitigate the biases that remain. We all know that "the blind eading the blind" is a bad thing, so do what you can to improve your vision.