Learn to Focus By Dr. Rob McKenna

Focus That Builds Value and Trust

I gain focus and have my best conversations with other leaders in the hallway outside of hotel rooms. I recently spoke at the Convene National Conference in San Diego and got to talk with Dr. Tom Nelson outside of our rooms. Tom is Christ Community Church’s pastor and Made to Flourish’s Executive Chairman. He spoke that day, and he said something that struck me in that hallway.

He commented about “seeing what we know” instead of “knowing what we see.” This is a quote from Rabbi Abraham Heschel about understanding what we are looking at.

Tom was then a guest on the WiLD Conversation Podcast recently, and we had a chance to unpack this wisdom more. Tom said,

“It’s not just about the facts we learn, but what happens between us and those who see us. Seeing each other is one of the most fundamental needs.”

The Value of Focus

You see, Tom and I were zeroing in on the same thing from different angles—the necessity for awareness and understanding of what is happening and what we must understand if we are to bring hope, joy, and wholeness not only to ourselves but also to our world and every relationship around us.

It focuses on building value for a moment or a season and, even more importantly, for eternity—a value that will last forever.

Changing Lenses

I just purchased a new set of binoculars, and I had to make some decisions. I had to decide what magnification to buy, the quality of the glass in the binoculars to provide a clear picture of what I wanted to see through them, and the size of the objective lens. Each decision affected the power to see, the clarity, the breadth, the weight, the price, and more. The more intentional I was with each decision, the more I was guaranteeing a spectacular result and a result that met the needs of the moment.

“Seeing what we know” is looking at life, work, team members, family, or even ourselves and our organizations without much attention or intentionality. It’s like using the same binoculars you bought years ago sitting in your closet.”
Dr. Tom Nelson

Beyond What is Known

We assume that our default way of seeing something is good enough, and we are blind to our lens’s flaws. Knowing what we see requires making intentional decisions to see ourselves, others, and our situation more accurately.

To know what we see is to realize that we have choices to make and tools we could use to become aware of different options and who people really are. When we begin to get intentional, we have choices regarding cost, weight, and quality. We cannot possibly fully understand everything we experience with crystal-clear clarity, but we certainly could get better and take action to see things more accurately.

Regarding the choices around weight, we can’t spend all of our time in meditation and building awareness and reflection because we also must take action, but we certainly could put a little more weight on awareness than we often do. And, while there are times when a more focused and narrow view of a situation or a person could be valuable, most of us could benefit from an expanded field of view and from seeing more of what is happening. There will always be compromises, but in too many cases, we either fail to understand what we are witnessing, push on past seeing anything, and start reacting.

In some ways, seeing what we know is necessary. However, it requires a healthy balance between knowing what we see and moving toward increased knowing, which has incredible benefits. When we know ourselves better, we see ourselves better, and others can understand and know us better.

Pathway to Trust

When we see others for who they are and not for what we already assume about them, our teams become more robust and perform better. When we clearly understand and know our contribution to our team’s and organization’s larger mission, everything begins to click rather than creak. If we can understand our situation and the situation of others with greater focus, clarity, and objectivity, we begin to build trust that we never imagined possible.

Our intentionality can create value that will outlive us – eternal value.

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Dr. Rob McKenna is the CEO and Founder of WiLD Leaders, Inc., named one of the top 30 I-O Psychologists alive today. Dr. McKenna is passionate about developing whole leaders, increasing performance and well-being, and creating whole and sustaining trust.