6 ½ Invisible Things For Leaders To Notice
An exploration of a leader’s opportunity to notice the “negative space” and to act on what isn’t there (but is)
By Eric McNulty and Shannon Mullen O’Keefe
“Miraculous worlds may reveal themselves to a patient observer where the casual passerby sees nothing at all…” — Karl von Frisch
The turbulence of these times regularly distorts the cues through which we make sense of the world. The noise all around us garbles essential signals.
The world serves up blasts –cacophonies–explosions of distractions, all of the time. Life is filled with insistent demands for our attention. Clamorous bleats from phones. Notifications for far more than one can notice. There is an almost irresistible gravitational pull of focus to those things that we can easily see. Both “permacrisis” and “polycrisis” have entered the vernacular.
But, there is more to pay attention to beyond the obvious around us. In fact, the constant commotion can distract from the critical factors most worthy of our attention.
For example, as 2019 spun into 2020, a small incident in a city unfamiliar to most portended massive disruption around the globe. A virus, invisible to the eye, would soon reveal the fragility of economies built for “just in time” and communities that scraped by on “just barely enough.” As those fissures flared, resilience also emerged. Neighbors helping neighbors. Strangers becoming friends. Support systems turning what we had into what we needed.
The fragility. The resilience. Both were there to be seen if only one looked.
Yet we do not look or listen or sniff as carefully as we might. In 2002, Tom Davenport and John Beck wrote the Attention Economy, a book that presaged the battles for clicks and eyeballs. In 2010, Nicholas Carr warned the internet was pulling our brains into “the shallows” of thought where we scan and skim, losing our ability to focus and think deeply. In 2017, Sherry Turkle argued that technology was “warping our social lives and our inner ones” in Alone Together. Today, AI is being pitched as both a miracle and a menace.
No matter how acclaimed or accomplished these and other prophets may be, we have not heeded their warnings. Leaders, and their teams, are awash in and consumed by transactional interactions.
This condition would be only unfortunate if not for the rapid contextual shifts we face that call for transformational thinking and action: Climate catastrophe. Biodiversity loss. Geopolitical realignment. Mass migration. Artificial Intelligence is evolving so quickly that some experts predict that we are years — perhaps months — not decades from an “unrecognizably transformed world.” Each of these contingencies presents novel risks and opportunities. Each has the potential tipping points that we may discover, if we fail to notice, like Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff.
All-consuming presentism rewards master transactionalists and masks the risks and costs. We are stumbling and tumbling into one of the most potentially tumultuous periods in history with our earbuds in and our eyes locked on flickering screens.
The essence of leading is bringing people together, and into an uncertain future with hope, confidence, purpose, and direction. Not in any of our lifetimes has the future been less predictable, except in broad strokes. Ambiguity abounds. Hope is elusive. Confidence? Direction? Which end is up?
Those who lead, or aspire to lead, when the future is as murky as an early morning fog on Cape Cod must attune themselves to perceiving deeply and finding a way through the tenebrous clouds that obscure both the next steps and the horizon.
Leading today requires intense, simultaneous attunement to the past, present, and future. To hearing faint frequencies and finding patterns amidst chaos.
Why aren’t we seeing what matters?
Might it be because some of the things that hold presence (and power) are –on the face of it — rather invisible?
Thus, hard to notice?
Consider, for example, the negative space in a painting. On one level, there is nothing there. It is white space.
A void.
But, in fact, it is a key element in the work of art.
It shapes the object.
Consider this, too. In the wild, trees talk to each other (but as humans, we don’t hear that conversation.) They scream when they are thirsty, but we don’t hear that. Birds communicate about threats with each other– even between species. They chatter about things that matter in significant ways to their survival — even indicating the difference between aerial and ground-based predators.
They clue each other in.
We don’t notice this, even though it is real–it is happening.
The truth is that there are unnoticed layers upon layers of communication and interaction happening around us all of the time.
The negative space is always there even though our human senses are saturated with the artificial chatter of busyness.
What gets in the way
Emails, spreadsheets, presentations. The loud voices that (can) dominate meetings. Data. These are things that show up in clearly manageable ways. So, as leaders, we naturally turn our attention there.
“What gets measured gets managed,” we say to ourselves, calling on the wisdom of management expert Peter Drucker.
And proofs have their place.
However, when we are honest about it, we can all see that many things that matter can’t be measured and many things that are measured have little significance at all. And, for the record, Drucker never said it.
This is the challenge of leading. The art of leadership is sensing that which is less visible. Less audible. Less obvious. The power in the art of leadership is noticing both what is there and what appears not to be there.
So, perhaps it doesn’t need to be proof — or nothing. Perhaps there is truth to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s sentiment that “Wisdom is the ability to balance two opposing mindsets simultaneously.” If we embrace this idea as leaders, we give ourselves permission to step away from the binary way of thinking that invites us to lead to only what we can see — and measure.
To be clear, we’re not minimizing the visible — like data — but we are saying there is more to notice than just what is obvious.
And in fact, that which isn’t obvious may hold a great deal of importance (and also be a wellspring of power) for leaders.
Consider something Drucker actually did say — “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t being said.”
Maybe, in fact, the most important thing in leadership is to notice what isn’t there — but is.
The negative space–a term used in art to describe the background or area surrounding a subject– the space that looks like nothing — is also a key element in leadership.
Six and a half things for leaders to pay attention to in the negative space
Let’s consider things that matter — even though they dwell in the negative space. Even though, like the chatter of the trees all around us… their signals are unhearable to us, unless we turn our attention there.
We believe these present immediate opportunities for leaders to engage with themselves, their followers, and the world beyond.
We’ll keep this short for now. We’ve identified six and a half things to start…We’re offering a short list, rather than an in depth analysis (although there are most certainly seeds of material here that could fuel a dissertation.)
Put on your invisibility goggles with us, let’s “see” what’s there. . .
1. The undercurrents of communication
The powerful undercurrents of communication exist in any community. They’re called rumors or conjectures. The lack of communication that can exist in any culture leaves a void in the liminal spaces that is filled with an invisible network of semi-truths. Much communication in any organization happens on frequencies above and below the official corporate broadcast signal. The opportunity is for a leader is to engage with this productively.
Leadership reflection(s:)
What isn’t being said?
What do I want to happen?
What wants to happen?
What is happening around me that I’m not aware of?
2. The systems we design
Like communication oscillating above and below official channels, extensive interpersonal circuitry not found on the organizational chart animates every institution and community. The interconnecting networks and norms are all around us. Because they are an implicit part of what we do, we can easily forget how they shape our actions. We can forget that they influence how we do things. Even the simplest, most basic, systems, act as invisible yet powerful forces.
For example, an employer that offers flexible schedules, rather than prescribed hours. The former system extends and implies trust. Prescriptions, on the other hand, while well intended, might be perceived as invisible barriers to trust. They may even imply active mistrust.
Notice how often a woman is expected to take notes in a meeting, no matter her position. Historical gender biases assert themselves without anyone speaking a word.
No one system or approach will fit all situations, in some cases prescriptions may make sense. The opportunity for leaders is to notice the opportunity; pay attention to formal and informal systems, and to be intentional in what they communicate.
Leadership reflections:
When was the last time you paused to evaluate the implicit messages in your formal systems, handbooks, policies, procedures and rules?
What do your systems say — on and beneath the surface?
How might they be shaping the informal conversation in your organization?
3. The status quo
The existing state of affairs is often what we are most comfortable with. Arianna Huffington once said something along the lines of, “The past and present have powerful constituencies. The future, not so much.” The status quo, and the pull of inertia it exerts, is a powerful invisible force. Martin Luther King famously references the status quo in his iconic Letter From Birmingham jail. He calls the church leadership to task for adhering to the status quo, even in the face of injustice. Susan Liataud, in her book The Power of Ethics, reminds that ethical leadership requires revisiting standard practice, even supposed best practice, in a changing world.
In other words, we can’t always trust our current state of affairs to be right. Leading requires ongoing conversations, checks and balances, to ensure that we are updating conditions and parameters as our world and our understanding of it changes.
Leadership reflections:
When was the last time you had a conversation with leaders on your team about the status quo?
What are the unspoken, underlying assumptions that undergird your decisions and actions?
What needs updating now?
4. The cultural “vibe”
Anyone who has had the gift and the opportunity to lead a team knows this, from experience. (They have experienced the “what isn’t being said” to which Drucker referred).
It is one thing to see data on a scorecard that tries to represent the culture of an organization. But, it is another to feel the vibe. And the vibe of a place is always real to those who experience it. The “how things get done,” of a culture is a great example. People experience that everyday. A person once described a former work culture as having an extreme effect on those who worked there: “Either they were excellent — or they melted down.”
There were two ways to live in that culture. And everyone experiences it that way. This was a felt observation, but the observation itself is an example of an output. “The vibe” that feeling describes counts when we consider the negative space. The feeling itself may not be visible — though it is an invisible and powerful driver.
Leadership reflection:
What inhabits the sounds of silence in your workplace?
When people are describing your work culture to family and friends, what words do they use?
What does it feel like to work in the culture?
5. Things we look away from — our fragility
We in the U.S. habitually tell ourselves we’re number 1 — in healthcare, education, innovation, and more. American exceptionalism is regularly asserted. Yet when you take time to look, the U.S. is often number 1 in the wrong way. For example, the maternal mortality rate is far higher than other industrialized nations. The COVID-19 pandemic showed just how fragile our healthcare system actually is. U.S. students rank below their global peers in math and science. U.S. News and World Report ranks the U.S. 4th in innovation.
In any community the data exists right now to map our fragility — employment, education, and health inequity; exposure to pollution and other risk factors; food and housing instability; and the mental health challenges of young men, women, and individuals who identify differently. Yet no one seems to have that comprehensive map. No one in government or the private sector seems to be using this knowledge to guide nuanced decisions and holistic, pro-social policy choices.
When fragility confronts us as a disturbed person on the subway or a person who doesn’t appear to “fit” in a neighborhood, we shoot or put it in a choke hold. We seem to struggle with kindness and grace as if compassion suggests weakness.
Leadership reflection:
What is the true condition of the people you want to follow you? What are their fragilities — and how might your choices amplify or mitigate those risks?
6. The pillars of our values
So often when a crisis hits — from a horrific mass shooting to a devastating product failure — a senior executive says, “This is not who we are.” Actually, it is exactly who you are because what happened, happened. Every system is perfectly defined for the outcomes it produces. Events may not reflect your expressed values, but they often result from your lived values.
Culture is rooted in values– and what leaders choose to value can have a profound effect on their constituencies. Stated values are visible, though you often have to look hard to find them. Lived values express themselves in every action and interaction. They define the employee and customer experience. They determine your reputation.
Leadership reflection:
How can you create opportunities for people to share where they see misalignment between expressed and lived values?
What would it look like in your organization’s daily activities if they were aligned?
6 ½. Feelings
“The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of… We know the truth not only by the reason, but by the heart.” ― Blaise Pascal, Pensées
We try to pretend that we’re rational beings. Behavioral economics has shown us that this is not true. The greatest number of human neuro-receptors is in the brain. The second greatest number is in the gut. The two are in constant communication via a nerve that runs along the spinal column. Humans are emotional beings… feelings inform what we’re doing. Failure to engage them is to literally deny our own humanity.
We only gave this item a half because the other half is threaded through all the other six.
Conclusion: The gap between now and the future
No one can predict the future. Yet as William Scott said, “The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.” It is only revealed when you perceive emerging phenomena that don’t jump right out at you.
One of the more common things leaders are supposed to have is a vision. They are supposed to shape the future. Seeing the difference between the present and a more desirable future state requires more than imagination; it calls for sensing faint signals of change and being open to signals others aren’t noticing. Hello, chatbots. They’ve been worked on for decades, yet the tipping point of their mass availability surprised many.
The opportunity is to notice the gap between what is and what will be. It is in this gap, this space, that seeds for visions–and their corollary–the narratives– of the future exist.
Slow down. Sit with the questions. Ponder alternatives. Take time to explore a different path. Have the patience not to pursue. Let the answers reveal themselves.
Question: What if you set aside time to pay attention to the signals? What if you set aside time to dream about the future? What signals do you notice?
Opportunity: Find the insights here to perceive the future for which you must craft your leadership narrative.
Eric McNulty writes and speaks about leadership, crisis leadership, organizational change, and the future of work. He is passionate about building humane, pro-social organizations and draws his inspiration from nature, cities, and other varied sources. Find Eric here: www.ericmcnulty.com
Shannon Mullen O’Keefe is dedicated to imagining what we can build and achieve together. She practiced the art of leadership for close to three decades, leading workplace engagement, and culture change initiatives. She operates from a place of curiosity, inviting questions, and reflections in order to call to light the hidden messages that surround us everywhere. Now, she dedicates her time to the House of Beautiful Business and writes articles like this for her own project, The Museum of Ideas.
