Last week I drove with my two high school age daughters all the way into Montreal (we live outside the city) so we could go to the store where they sell their school uniforms. We needed to get a few pieces to freshen up their school wardrobe. When we got there, the young lady at the counter told me they had all the school’s clothing at my daughters’ school that exact same evening.
I looked again at the flyer the school had sent, and sure enough, that information was right there on the flyer, but I had failed to see it. My daughers didn’t fail to note that they had told me this before driving all the way into town that evening. Of course, I felt foolish. I realized that the information about the uniform supplier being at the school that evening (a mere 10-minute drive from our house) was there in plain view on the flyer. I had read that flyer about three times, and my daughters told me they thought it was odd that we were going into to town when all their friends were going to the school to get their clothing.
This just goes to show that often the information we need is staring us in the face. This can be compounded by the fact that others are telling us this. We just have to be willing to open our mind to this possibility. Whether it’s a case of willful blindness or just plain not seeing what everyone else can see (and are telling us they see), we have to be open and willing to see.
What information about your business, your marketing, your customers, your competition is staring you in the face? What are you willfully or inadvertently not seeing? What are your associates and employees telling you about your environment that you need to notice?
© 2012 Richard Martin. Reproduction and quotes permitted with full and proper attribution.