“We do not think and talk about what we see; we see what we are able to think and talk about.” E. Schein

As an Organizational Development Consultant in my past life and as a consultant who supports a variety of different teams, I am well aware of the concept of blind spots.

Blind Spot – an area where a person’s view is obstructed or an area in which a person lacks understanding or impartiality

The concept that your brain’s filtering of stimuli and data contributes so significantly to our blind spot was startling to me. Conceptually I certainly knew that our brains are only able to take in and process a portion of the data available to it but the realization that the brain activity filters data to protect your own narrative and therefore by default your blind spots was a new idea to me.

The Edgar Schein quote makes you sit up and take notice of the inherent bias built into your work, your conversations, your relationships and your experiences. I am increasingly aware that these blind spots are even easier to fall into as online media is tailored to your interests and feeds you content based on your online habits. This automatic filtering means I am less likely to be exposed to any new topics, ideas or content to help me recognize what I don’t know or assist me in developing my perspective. This makes it even more critical to seek out different people, different perspectives to debate and learn and explore.