On Squirrel

This was my wife’s Microsoft screensaver a few days ago. It reminded me of this paradox: There are, give or take, 7.7 billion people on Earth. If you had enough time you could travel the world and physically see the face of each and every one of them.

With the exception of the one that is most important to you. Your own.

The only way you can see your own face is through indirect measures: reflections in the mirror, photographs, descriptions by others.

That is a great metaphor for self-awareness. While it’s important to use introspection, if you really want to know yourself that is never enough. You need to ask other people what they see when they look at you.

One of the things I’ll be doing on my sabbatical lite is asking some of the people I most respect these two questions:

> What do you see as my most meaningful strengths?

> What do you think would be the most important contribution I could make over the next two years?

I’ve done something similar at past inflection points in my life and am always astounded at how often others see things in me that I don’t see in myself, and how often they in some ways know me better than I know myself.