Potential
As a leader your job is to see potential.
In a literal sense, this is impossible.
You cannot see a cup of coffee within the whole bean simply at a glance.
Your mind’s ability to “see” potential plays upon an important cognitive construct.
You can think of a reality which is not real.
This is why the linguistic tool of metaphor is powerful: it enables you to think of another reality through an unrelated, parallel visualization.
When you see a coffee bean, you know what it is capable of.
You see its potential.
Over time, heuristics develop and hone these abilities to make them less energetically demanding.
The problem is human beings are not coffee beans.
The potential of a coffee bean is comparatively succinct and defined.
The work in seeing potential in someone is to challenge a heuristic model that wants to simplify a being into a bean.
It’s not coffeedential, I’ve got potential,
- Morning Cup