Leaders often face fuzzy and poorly-defined problems. It’s hard to see their edges. Sometimes you have a vague sense of the problem but aren’t sure how big it is.
There’s a helpful “trick” to getting more clarity on dimly-lit problems: Look to the side of them.
I was 8 years old when our Cub Scout leader took us on a night hike in the woods. We were following a path in the pale moonlight, forbidden to use our flashlights, walking as silently as we could to listen for animal noises. Our leader gave us about 20 minutes in the meadow at the edge of the woods for our eyes to adjust. He also told us that we’d see better in the dim light if we didn’t look directly at objects but just to the side. I was amazed how much better I could see the branches and rocks that way! I learned later on that amateur astronomers do the same thing to better see dim stars in the night sky.
This visual trick is ancient wisdom rooted in the way the human eye is organized. There are two types of photo-receptor cells, cones and rods. Cones are less abundant, see color and bright light, and are concentrated at the center of the retina. Rods are more abundant, can’t see color, and a distributed at the edges of the retina.
Individual cone cells are directly wired to the retina nerves. It takes many photons of light to stimulate a cone cell, so they’re practically useless in dim light. You might have noticed that even bright colors only look gray at night.
Many rod cells are clustered to a single retinal nerve. Each cell can pick up a small number of photons, but it takes a group of rod cells to fire the retinal nerve. Rod cells are great for detecting movement at the edge of your vision, but have low acuity. You might think it’s an animal moving in the dark toward you but it turns out to be trash blowing in the wind.
The combination of cone and rod cells gives humans the full range of color in daylight and decent navigation and threat detection in dim light.
Back to fuzzy problem solving.
As much as we favor and reward initiative and focused action, there are many organization and project problems which simply won’t yield to a direct assault. Come at them from an angle. Intentionally turn off the bright light focus and look askance to see them differently, often more clearly. Let your subconscious work on it while you’re walking your dog, cleaning house, or sleeping. Trust that new insights will come.
