Today's episode of the Serial Learner podcast I'll be talking about lenses and why we perceive the world in such a different way. When I say lens, I'm talking about a figurative lens that sits in front of us, we see the world through this lens and it affects our perception. A more scientific term would probably be a schema, like a cultural schema, but I really love the imagery of a lens and that just really depicts why people can experience such similar events and have different thoughts about it, have different ways that they see the world. A perfect story that comes to mind is I recently attended an AI conference that had myself, a handful of other students, a lot of the faculty that are from my programs, the supply chain program, and there was the VP of sales at Oracle.
So a big tech conglomerate and the AI conference started out with the VP of sales at Oracle giving a presentation and it was very much based on his day-to-day work, what he was seeing at Oracle that is currently happening. So just straight out of the industry, this is what's going on in AI. And it was so interesting that the faculty that were present at this conference were asking questions that were related to what he was talking about, but in such a way that it felt a lot more academic, a lot more theoretical, and almost like they had a hard time connecting with this presentation, if that makes sense. And it was just really interesting because he would explain things in a certain way that came from his lens of he's at a company right now, he is in the industry, this is what he's seeing, and the professors are in this world that's just totally separate of academia where they are doing research papers and reviewing other people's research papers and it's based upon industries and real companies, but just in such a different way.
So there was these very different lenses that I could just see very clearly of someone working at a company and executive versus professors that are in the world of academia doing their research. And later in the conference, another professor gave a presentation that was just so night and day different from the VP of Oracle's presentation and it seemed like they could all connect because they were all in that same world, they had that same lens of academia and research, and it was just really fascinating to see that. So lenses are so, so important. They aren't necessarily a negative or a positive but is so crucial that we recognize everyone has their own lens.
So when we are learning from somebody else and we're having a conversation with somebody else, we need to know and we need to recognize, I have my lens, this person has their lens, and we can tailor some of our questions and our thought processes to tap in a little bit and discover what is the lens that they are seeing the world through. Right lenses can be formed by somebody's culture, their interests, their background, very very experienced as they've had in terms of business, right? Lenses can be so different if you're talking about somebody who's working in engineering versus somebody who's in finance or somebody who's in marketing versus somebody who's in supply chain. And that specifically lenses in the business setting, right, that comes from research done by Dearborn and Simon and really just impacts why companies can have some friction even when people at the company have the same overall mission, right?
So Kant, he said that two people can experience the quote same event but construct different meanings. That's just exactly what we're talking about. Someone can really have the exact same experience as somebody else but because their lenses are different, they're seeing it in a different way. I just recently finished a book called Living with a Seal.
It's a book by Jesse Itzler, a serial entrepreneur who I love. Just I really admire the way that he sees the world and different content that he puts out. But in this book, he describes his experience living with David Goggins known as one of the toughest men on the planet. He had him train and live with him for a month.
They literally did just about everything together, spent about every second together and you can see in the book and just even writes about that they perceived things very differently. There was one experience where David was driving with Jesse and Jesse noticed that David would point at every single car that passed them. And finally he asked what's with the point? What's going on?
And David explained everyone is a threat and he was just trying to stay alert which really confused Jesse. He was pointing at a minivan with a mom and a couple of kids in the back. And obviously that lines have been shaped through David's life experiences. His background as an ABC deal in the military.
That was how he was perceiving the world. Jesse is writing the passenger seat, has no thought whatsoever that a mom with a couple kids in the back could be a threat. So two people in very close proximity because their lens is having different ways that they see the world. Something that I believe correlates very closely with the lenses that we see the world through is agendas.
It's very important that we recognize that the lens they see the world through and it's important that we recognize that people have different agendas, things that they want to accomplish. So at a company going back to that example, the different facets of a company, someone in finance will have a different agenda than somebody in supply chain, somebody in human resources can have a different agenda than somebody in the marketing sector of the company. So one example would be marketing and supply chain. There's this natural friction that exists because their agendas are different.
Supply chain they want things to be optimized and efficient as possible. Marketing they're trying to please the customer. They're trying to create something new and exciting. So marketing might want to try a new feature or a new color with the product.
I think it's the greatest thing ever. It's going to just crazy benefit the company. Supply chain they're going to be freaking out because now they have to optimize the process and there's more that goes into that. They have more inputs.
So they have different agendas even though they both are trying to create success for the business. One really funny example, I love the comedian, Nae Bradgettse, my whole family. We crack up every time we hear him. He has a joke where he talks about going to a mixed martial arts class and he's paired up with a 16 year old kid who wants to be a professional fighter.
And the teacher, his comment was, why don't you guys just go at it, right? Just try to mix martial arts together. Nae Bradgettse, who's a middle-aged man, very out of shape, his quote is, I think it's because we have different goals. Maybe that's why we should not go at it.
I just want you to not be able to see my nipples through my shirt. So let's do levels. This is obviously a comedic example, but I think really drives on the point that Nate was there to get in better shape, try something new out. This kid had a very defined goal.
I want to be a professional fighter. He's like, because of the misalignment and their agendas there, it wasn't going to be the greatest experience for either of them. Again, I want to reiterate that either agendas nor lenses are inherently positive or negative, but it is so crucially important that we recognize other people's lenses and their agendas. You can recognize agendas and you can recognize lenses through patterns of actions and through asking questions.
When you are with somebody, seek to understand them a little bit better, seek to understand the lens they see the world through. One thing that we need to avoid is judgment for somebody's actions or for comments they make because we don't really know how they are proceeding the world. While reading a book, while listening to a podcast, while having a discussion with a colleague, seek to understand and ask better questions. This has been the Stearland Podcast.
Thank you for joining.