I’ve Been Reading…
An Immense World: Ed Young (2022: p. 248-254) Penguin Random House, UK
Put In
Ever been really good at something, even so much better than everyone else around you, but still lost or failed? Ever messed up on a task that you have done perfectly a thousand times before – can even do “blind-fold” – but somehow, stuffed it up in an instant?
Work Through
Bats are amazing creatures. Their super-sense is echolocation. The ability to “see” with sonar! Making clicks or blips with their mouths, they hear the bounce-back of the sounds and can locate prey, targets, predators, or detect environmental details with incredible accuracy: even in the pitch dark.
“Echolocation takes a lot of effort” explains Young, “and it comes with very specific challenges”. He lists ten specific ones, including distance, volume, and speed, all of which the bat deals with admirably. He takes five pages to summarise how the average bat overcomes these ten demanding challenges to achieve such an impressive strike rate of success, only to then tell of the common occurrence of finding dead bats with broken necks outside blocked cave entrances where they have crashed head-long into erected barriers.
How, then, does a bat, known for such impressive feats of “blind flight” and almost unparalleled sonar ability, capable of “detecting two grades of sandpaper whose grains differ by half a millimetre”, plough head-first into a blocked doorway? “Bats are fully capable of avoiding such error: they are just not paying attention.”
“Using echolocation”, Young informs us, “is mentally demanding, especially as bats do everything they do at speed. Often, they just do not have time to use there sonar to its fullest capacity, which is why they often make ridiculous mistakes that seem beneath them.”
Bats, it appears, rely on “memory and instinct” as much as humans do. Most accidents occur at home: and Ed reminds us, too, that most road accidents occur near one’s home. Why? Because of complacency and familiarity. We tend to be less watchful, less carful, when on familiar turf or doing familiar things. As Ed says: “perception is influenced not just by information from the sense organs but also by what our brains decide to do with that information.
Take Away
It is not what we have but what we do with it! We might be good at something, but if it takes effort, we will tend to take short cuts. Being good at something is no guarantee that we will do well at something and having ability is no guarantee of applying ability. Talent is not enough.
Often, the more ability one has the less attention is given. Having a particular talent may mean that we try less hard, relying on that talent rather than putting in the extra effort. It is then that we are prone to fail. Not paying attention, not given due heed, not putting in the work just because we are “naturally good at something” is a common issue that can cost us goals, games, jobs, even life.
We, also, regularly tend to give the mundane, daily, easy tasks – like going home – less attention or effort. Again, It is in these actions where we are most prone to plummet. Letting our guard down when we think it is over, or easing up with a few steps to go, looking forward before looking down, taking the simple and frequent for granted.
Not having the time – or more accurately, taking the time – to bolster our abilities by putting in the effort and paying attention is not a habit of an effective leader. Doing so will only lead to crashing headlong into obstacles that should be easily spotted and avoided if the right care was taken.
Overconfidence, complacency, under estimating opponents, problems or tasks based on our natural ability, familiarity, or ease, are all dangers that lurk for a leader. Whether leading a sports team or a project team, a leader must avoid such traps and combine commensurate effort with any natural capability to perform effectively consistent.
Take the time and make the effort to be great at all times. Fly home with the same focus on detail, cause for care, and application of effort as the flight out.
Live | Lead | Learn
