Burned by Blindness

Have you ever been completely surprised by an audit finding? Someone from outside your area discovered a condition that was always there for you to see, but you were blind to it. When it was all over, that is, you resolved the condition identified in the audit, did you ever wake up in the middle of the night wondering how many other surprises are alive and waiting? Do you know whether you should rely on what you do see, the data and reports you manage from, to be accurate and timely? Do important details and nuances get filtered or blurred out before you see them? Are performance surprises routine? Have the consequences of being blind to important issues adversely impacted your enterprise?

Claude Monet’s paintings are global favorites. He was a prolific painter and one whose works you are very likely to recognize, as they are displayed as reproductions and posters as well as featured in countless art books. You are likely to recognize many of his works from his time at his final home and gardens at Giverny, about an hour’s drive west from Paris (80 km). Should you find yourself traveling to and in France, take time to visit Giverny; it is beautiful and memorable. At least consider a cyber visit to http://giverny.org/monet/welcome.htm .

Monet (1840 – 1926) began to suffer from cataracts in his early sixties and the effects of this progressive ‘clouding” of the optical lens are visible in the evolution of his paintings. Details became cloudier and the vibrancy of colors progressively muted and narrowed in range. There are lots you can read about Monet and the impacts of his decaying vision on his art. He had one of the cataracts removed (he did not have sufficient trust in the procedure to put both eyes under the scalpel). With his eyesight improved, he was aghast at what many of his works had become, what others saw. He wrote, “in the end I was forced to recognize that I was spoiling them [the paintings], that I was no longer capable of doing anything good. So I destroyed several of my panels.” He destroyed many of his creations. There is a strong likelihood that changes in dexterity over time also contributed … but to Monet, it was all about the quality of the work and that his name was on the panels.

For many years of painting, Monet depicted on canvas what he thought he saw, and found acceptable. Both were affected by the lens he had put on his performance. He had adjusted his standard of acceptability as a consequence of deteriorating measurements, the lens. What he saw is what we got.

Lenses matter. Monet’s experience is replicated daily in many of our organizations. We make decisions and execute along the bias or description that our lenses provide. The audit nightmare is predictable because auditors bring their own lenses. We are very diligent in ensuring that our employees and colleagues do not place themselves in harm’s way from poor vision. Eye exams are requirements for countless professions and the issuance of driver’s licenses. Many of us go for yearly vision examinations done by proven professionals. Innumerable lives have been saved from potentially blind drivers on land, sea and air; mall cops as well …

We don’t get what we see. We often get surprises that we could not see.

So … our questions:

·       Does our data pass the eye exam?

·       Are any of our decision lenses set for the wrong prescription?

·       Are any of our measurement and reporting systems growing cataracts that cloud or dim out reality?

·       Will we be able to “see” in time for?