In his Educare Unlearning blog, Sandy Wilder talked about partialness, and said:
“Pretty much every time we look at and identify someone, we are choosing a partial view.” He went on to say that we then believe in this partial perspective and judge accordingly. And it made me think of how often I size people up from a partial perspective and don’t give them a chance to prove otherwise.
In his new book Hidden Potential, Adam Grant discusses how often great potential is missed in others when it isn’t immediately evident. We see they’re not good at one thing, and miss an opportunity to see their real potential. Another partial view.
This is something I used to do on an almost weekly basis, until I learned. One of the ways I discovered how much I had been missing in people was to ask this simple question: “What’s one of the bravest things you’ve ever done?” The answers were astonishing. I would then see past my initial partial judgment to the amazing person who was sitting in front of me.
Where might you be acting on a partial perspective, when with a little more awareness you can begin to see the whole person, and their hidden potential?
