Perceive Today, Anticipate Tomorrow
Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison explains why getting others to “seeit all” is the ultimate leadership balancing act.
Gary Burnison is CEO of Korn Ferry. For more career advice, read his latest book, I Need a Job!
Do we look for what’s right in what’s wrong—or what’s wrong in what’s right? The answer is both.
A few years ago, I started a leadership meeting by showing the picture above and asking people what they saw. With a bias toward optimism, most people said they focused on the young girl picking flowers in the foreground. A smaller number said their focus was drawn to the dilapidated buildings in the background. Only 2 out of 17 said they focused on both.
Surprising? Not really.
While the flowers speak to hope and optimism, the decayed buildings provide just enough pessimism to reinforce reality.
And it’s up to us as leaders to help others see it all. Because here’s the thing: it’s nearly impossible to anticipate tomorrow unless we can clearly perceive today.
Research tells us that the vast majority of people gravitate toward a good outcome. But optimism can actually become a blind spot, preventing us from recognizing and acknowledging what we don’t want to see.
It’s like that question we’ve all heard and asked: “I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” As it turns out, most people prefer the bad news first—simply because the good news at the end leaves a positive impression.
But it takes realism to reframe the picture. That’s why we don’t want to derail progress by getting stuck in the past, defaulting to the way things used to be. Or, how we want them to be.
It’s not that the past doesn’t matter. It just needs to be brought into the present. This brings to mind my favorite professor in college who taught geology, a subject that is about as “old” as you can get. I can remember him writing obsessively on the blackboard—practically consuming chalk. And whenever he said, “metamorphic rock,” white dust showered the first row of students.
But he was passionate, with a real talent for bringing the past alive, making it relevant for today’s world.
With clarity, it becomes far easier for us to discern what’s no longer relevant. We give ourselves more room to actualize today and visualize tomorrow. Here are some thoughts:
The Perception Connection. As our firm’s research shows, up to 70 percent of an organization’s culture and climate can be determined simply by leadership style. In other words, our attitude truly does become the organization’s altitude. So, we ask ourselves: What reality do we perceive and, more importantly, what reality will we project to others?
The Optimism Illusion. Too much of a good thing is still too much—even when it’s hope. It comes down to balance: realism on one side and reassurance on the other. And it must be constantly recalibrated. After all, when we connect with people it’s important to be realistically optimistic. Hope always inspires, but it’s reality that keeps us grounded.
A Healthy Dose of Realism. A few years ago, during a town hall call with thousands of colleagues, I was asked an unexpected, yet poignant question: “What’s one thing you would have done differently?” I paused to collect my thoughts. And then I had my answer. While there were times I encouraged optimism, I wished I would have added a couple more tablespoons of reality.
This is the quintessential balancing act of leadership—the orchestration of perceptions and perspectives within an organization.
We don’t need to be visionaries, trying to predict tomorrow. But we do need to create a vision of the future that others cannot yet see. And that starts with accurately perceiving the reality of today.
