A Letter from Chris Suarez
PERFECT 20/20 VISION
I recently went in to get my eyes checked as more of a routine that I have followed every few years. I walked out with a new prescription and new frames, with a new set of lenses on the way. A few days later with the lenses in place, and glasses sitting squarely on my nose, a new crisp picture of the world came into view. What I thought looked perfectly fine before suddenly became crystal clear. It was almost shocking what I had settled into accepting for my vision.
As I thought about how fascinating it is that our vision can change with time or age it caused me to begin reading a bit more about one of the most intricate and important parts of the human body - our eye. Most importantly, our eyes provide us with sight or vision.
Interestingly enough, no two eyes are alike. We all have a unique iris pattern, we all have unique curves to our cornea which then allows light and image to focus through our lens, hitting our retina - making the world around us picture perfect. At times, the natural curve to our eye can change, causing our vision to become blurry. Just a simple or complex lens in a pair of glasses or a contact lens can reframe that outside light and focus it correctly on our retina, allowing our brains to read and see a perfectly clear image of what we are looking at or focusing on. It allows us to see clearly both right in front of us, as well as way out ahead.
Vision is one of the most critical of the five main human senses. In fact, if necessary, I’d gladly give up the other four if it meant keeping just that one. It allows us to see and watch those that we love. It allows us to read and be curious. It allows us to be amazed at the ever changing world and landscape in front of us. It allows us to see where we are and where we want to go. Vision is at the center of human fulfillment.
The most important skill in any business or project or mission is no different. It is vision. It is the ability to see exactly where you are - right in front of yourself - and yet at the same, exactly where you are going - often way out ahead. That is vision. And those with incredible vision have the ability to offer that perfect prescription to everyone else around them. It is what we all look for. A leader with a vision that you can see clearly and that you can believe in.
In business, over time, we can let our vision get blurry. We can allow it to get dusty or even injured. And if we aren’t constantly monitoring it, testing it, correcting it, slowly we can become legally blind, without any vision at all. Or we can just forget what that vision was. We put down our glasses and forget where we left them. Year after year the lenses that we look through actually strengthen the muscles in our eyes as well as retrain our brain to see clearly. If we aren’t consistently testing our vision, it can slowly get worse. A once 20/20 vision can begin to slip. Oftentimes it slips so slowly, we think we are seeing things “just fine”. It isn’t until we put the right corrective lenses in front of our eyes that we wake up amazed at how off-course we may have been.
The lenses or the vision we bring to our businesses and our people do the very same thing. Who are you allowing to test your eyesight or check your vision? Do those that we choose to follow or partner with see clearly? Do they have a vision for the industry, for the partnership, for the world that you can see yourself within? Does their vision align with yours? Then you are in good hands. Put those glasses on. The steps in front of you should be clear. The path ahead should be clear. The horizon should be equally as clear. If not, you may need a new prescription. You may need a new set of lenses through which to see the world or industry unfolding in front of you.
In life at times we are the visionary. In life at times we gravitate towards a vision that another has painted. Either way, vision equals clarity. Be a visionary or make sure you surround yourself with those that provide a vision that you believe in. Go ahead and put on a pair of glasses that clear away the fuzziness of what time or age or the day to day business has created.
We may not have been born with 20/20 vision or perhaps over time that 20/20 vision has grown weak. The good news is with consistent checking and testing and monitoring and the right leadership and prescription, we can make sure we are seeing the world in front of us clearly.
Chris