seeing

You always find whatever you're looking for.

Riddle of the cigar-shaped bottle

Home ground by Harry Whewell
The Guardian Weekly, January 21, 1990

"A short trip across the Channel over the holiday has enabled me to identify at least one way in which relations between the British and their neighbours might be improved with little trouble and no great cost. Since it concerns patterns of behaviour at that most abrasive of social interfaces - the railway compartment - there should be no need for me to labour its potential for good.
Like BR (British Rail), Continental carriers have a clear sign to mark non-smoking sections. But they also have another sign meaning "Do not throw bottles out of the window" which, consisting as it does of a long narrow bottle with a heavy X superimposed on it, is easy to misread as a non-smoking sign using a cigar instead of the more familiar cigarette.
The Consequences of the confusion can be best observed at a railhead, one of the Channel ports, say, Hook of Holland. Our British traveller having satisfied himself that he is on the right train by conducting a poll of everyone in sight and disposed of his luggage where he can keep an eye on it settles back in his seat with a sigh of satisfaction. But what is this? One of these awful foreigners has lit up one of those foul-smelling fags right under a no smoking sign. Why is no one objecting? No, Perhaps I won't. Such a lot of them and I cannot see anyone else who looks British. I'll give him a dirty look, though.As his journey progresses, the looks get more and more dagger-like because more and more of those anarchic foreigners are lighting up in defiance of those clear instructions to the contrary.
Our Englishman grows increasingly angry and frustrated, feeling that his silent protest is having no effect."

This is a nice example of how we see what we want to see. The complexity is increasing as we meet ever stranger people and situations. And instead of looking with open eyes we quickly label and then assume it is right. This is here called abstract looking.
Abstract looking helps us to survive in everyday life. Imagine that you really started seeing all pieces of trash! A nervous breakdown would result very soon. However, for the purpose of personal success it may/will prevent you from really seeing the things that are there. You might think too quickly "Ah, that is ......" with the result that you are describing in your report or memo what you thought was there. In other words you are projecting your own view onto a problem and the problem you describe is not a description of objective reality.
The representative reporting on a visit to a prospective customer should know how to keep apart facts and his personal opinion. If he reports everything with personal qualifications, the picture created in the minds of the home office may have very little to do with what actually is the case. They may be dealing with the perception of the salesman.
For example, someone telling how good a film was, gives her personal opinion. It does not tell you anything about the actual film! Depending on how well you know the person you may decide that it probably is worth seeing too, but how well do we always know the other?!
What counts in reports, impressions, accounts are only facts, facts and facts. A personal opinion may be given, but should be qualified as such. It is only what you individually have seen and no doubt has its value. Its value will mostly be a personal one. No one can dictate you to like something, but if we care to consider the facts we might find that there is often more to like in other fields than we imagined. For the abstract looker 'seeing' is an absolutely subjective experience. As such an abstract looker limits his/her personal reality and he/she makes insufficient use of the potential for quality. For quality is ultimately based on the various elements to be found in one's environment. And perhaps that is one of the problems.
The whole of society seems to become ever more complex. Managers, workers i.e. all problem-solvers therefore have to become ever more skilled in the art of seeing; seeing the situations that they are attempting to organize or manage. Many people regard this ability as something one is born with, like you have 'born teachers'. However, if the processes used are closely observed, we find that insight and knowledge is often based on deep appreciation of the situations investigated.
The people able to do so have the capacity to remain open and flexible and not judge hastily. They are able to look at the concrete facts and are not prejudiced. They are aware of the fact that new insights appear when situations are seen from different angles; that we often only see what we want to see. Besides being problem-solvers they are opportunity-seekers. Ineffective problem-solvers are characterized by prejudices, lack of alternatives, repetitiveness and trying to score on debating points.