A Leader Without Perception Is Like a Miner Without a Lamp

Language is a most wonderful tool – imagine life without it. It also has its many intriguing mysteries; such as how speaking or thinking about certain words can have an awakening quality. One such word is ‘perception’. You can try it right now – think ‘perception’ and say it to yourself in your own mind a few times. Can you feel the stimulating, somewhat challenging effect? It is as though the mind becomes activated in the way of "am I missing anything…?"

Perception is one of a core cluster of qualities that are essential to leadership practices. How can a designate leader function without being able to perceive what is happening? There are therefore certain questions that can promote perception in relation to specific events, such as "what’s happening?" and "why is it happening?"

Before proceeding further let’s make this tangible with an example. A simple answer – one of many – to "what’s happening in planet earth?" can be: "global warming seems to be an indisputable fact". The answer to its ‘sister question’ – "why is it happening?" – is not that straight forward, as presently there are different schools of thought about it within the scientific community, struggling between the obvious – such as the CO2 problem in the atmosphere – and the less obvious suspected causes, such as the notable weakening of the earth’s magnetic fields. So we are witnessing different states of perception that accommodate varying balances and combinations of points of view.

Another essential leadership quality is the ability to communicate one’s perceptions in a way that is receivable by others. This calls for a great range of skills and capabilities, such as being able to be sensitive to the states, proneness’s and moods of others – who rely on a leader’s perception capabilities – and the ability to convey challenging needs and hard facts with care, mindfulness, clarity and simplicity.

The perception of what is possible for a human to be and to become determines a person’s self awareness. Perception therefore leads to cognizance which eventually leads to enhanced consciousness.

Perception can exists in us at two distinct levels:

1. The first level is a product of sensory perception – the five senses – at brain/body levels. At this level the touch, hearing, smell, sight and taste combine on a moment by moment basis to form the first platform of cognizance and consciousness, which is the most important aspect of being alive – can you imagine life without consciousness?
    
2. The second level – or elevation – is a product of perception at mental/mind level, manifesting in imageries, ideas, knowing states (such as when you know something is possible but cannot substantiate it with facts), seeing or feeling what is not there that can be there and the trained ability to translate unseen opportunities and ‘vibes’ into clear, sensible concepts and ideas. This is also related to the well known term "presence of mind", which suggests that the mind can attract an unseen presence that has an enhancing effect upon a person’s perception and cognizance.

Perception training can therefore happen at two levels. The first is by developing our ability to relate to, filter, translate and comprehend our sensory perceptions. As an example, to be able to filter away the vast amount of ‘spam sensory overloads’ that we experience every day by way of advertising and news that doesn’t offer much intelligence.

Then, to be able to relate to the sights and sounds that offer real news and new perception opportunities. This is one of the reasons why so many people are drawn to visit places that they have not been to before – the unfamiliar environment offers a feast of new impressions to the brain’s sensory mechanisms. An example to a higher level training at the level of the mind is to engage in developing one’s ability to ask intelligent questions about all and everything.

The mind loves the challenge of ‘why’, such as "why is the world so locked in the grip of the short-term and so blind to the long-term?" As you may well observe while reading this, perception is at its best when the processes that live at the two levels combine together to create an evolving state of perception that can bring to bear remarkable levels of new intelligence to those who are drawn to these practices.

And since the ‘big E’ word – evolution – was just mentioned, no serious reference to leadership perception can be made without considering evolution. That ancient Chinese motto "may you live in interesting times" is so utterly relevant to the times we live in.

Just consider the evolution of mobile devices in recent years which is a feint reflection of the capabilities of the human mind. Or the profound changes that many cultures are experiencing across the world. Evolution is active and can be best observed and experienced through the vector of change happening now.

Leading through the great, unknown challenges of change and the thrill of translating unseen opportunities to tangible ways and ideas constitutes the central theme of true leadership. And it starts with perceiving that it can be different, that there are new, different ways and that it can be done.

David Gommé

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