I live close to Nose Hill Park in northwest Calgary. When I get the chance I like to take walks up on the hill. I feel fortunate to have such a large area to do so in the middle of a busy city.
There are a number of places in the park where you can get amazing panoramic views of the surrounding area. I wonder what it must have been like to stand up there 100 years ago when Calgary was just beginning. I imagine that Nose Hill would have seemed far away at that point. And what was it like 200 years ago when all you could see for as far as you could see was open prairie and the foothills leading up to the Rockies?
There are two peaks in particular that give me a good view of where I live and the neighborhoods around me. I like to stand on those peaks and take a look around. I can see my house, the roads I regularly drive on, the other homes and places in the area that I recognize for whatever reason. Among other things I can also see downtown, the new buildings that are going up, and the new C-Train station. I like to do this because it gives me a bigger sense of all the pieces that make up the city. Normally I just see the specifics; the individual street corners, the traffic, the local stores, etc., but from up there I see the larger picture, how everything fits together, how big things really are and yet how accessible.
The point of all of this is that gaining some perspective is a good thing for us to do from time to time, both personally and professionally. Just like I live in my house and drive the streets in my neighborhood, we have to live the details of our jobs and meet the other expectations of our lives. And there is nothing wrong with this; details are necessary and important. But sometimes it is just good to find a vantage point from where we can see how all those details fit together to make up the larger picture.
I think this kind of perspective is important to any organization, no matter what size it is. Getting a sense of how all the pieces fit together keeps us focused on the importance and value of our individual part. Companies, teams, individuals who can somehow find a way to keep the larger picture in mind while attending to the various details of that picture seem to excel.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Comments.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Perspective
There are a number of places in the park where you can get amazing panoramic views of the surrounding area. I wonder what it must have been like to stand up there 100 years ago when Calgary was just beginning. I imagine that Nose Hill would have seemed far away at that point. And what was it like 200 years ago when all you could see for as far as you could see was open prairie and the foothills leading up to the Rockies?
There are two peaks in particular that give me a good view of where I live and the neighborhoods around me. I like to stand on those peaks and take a look around. I can see my house, the roads I regularly drive on, the other homes and places in the area that I recognize for whatever reason. Among other things I can also see downtown, the new buildings that are going up, and the new C-Train station. I like to do this because it gives me a bigger sense of all the pieces that make up the city. Normally I just see the specifics; the individual street corners, the traffic, the local stores, etc., but from up there I see the larger picture, how everything fits together, how big things really are and yet how accessible.
The point of all of this is that gaining some perspective is a good thing for us to do from time to time, both personally and professionally. Just like I live in my house and drive the streets in my neighborhood, we have to live the details of our jobs and meet the other expectations of our lives. And there is nothing wrong with this; details are necessary and important. But sometimes it is just good to find a vantage point from where we can see how all those details fit together to make up the larger picture.
I think this kind of perspective is important to any organization, no matter what size it is. Getting a sense of how all the pieces fit together keeps us focused on the importance and value of our individual part. Companies, teams, individuals who can somehow find a way to keep the larger picture in mind while attending to the various details of that picture seem to excel.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.