The Patient Eye

A few months ago, I returned to Factory Butte in Utah for the fourth time in two years. With the same location and basic composition in mind. But when I looked through my viewfinder, I saw something completely different.

The light had changed, the seasons had shifted, and my perspective had evolved. What I captured had little resemblance to the photographs I'd taken there before...and that's exactly what made it valuable to me.

This experience reminded me of something I've observed throughout my career in technology leadership: the best strategies, like the best photographs, require multiple visits to the same "location" before you truly see what's possible.

Most people think photography is about finding the perfect moment and capturing it once. Click. Done. Move on. They're wrong.

Great photography, like great leadership, is returning to familiar ground with fresh eyes. Conditions change, light shifts, and what you thought you knew yesterday might not be true today.

In my photo library, I have dozens of shots from the same locations, taken months or years apart. Each visit reveals something new: a different shadow pattern, unexpected weather, a composition I'd missed before. The location hasn't changed that much, but my ability to see it has.

The same principle applies to organizational strategy.

The market conditions you analyzed six months ago? They've shifted. The team dynamics you thought you understood? They've evolved. The technology solution that seemed perfect last year? It may be wrong for today's challenges.

The Art of Strategic Focus

When I set up for a landscape photograph, I'm not just pointing my camera at a pretty scene. I'm making deliberate choices about what to include, what to exclude, and where to direct the viewer's attention. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I get it wrong.

Every element in the frame either supports the story I'm telling or detracts from it. A distracting branch gets cropped out. A compelling foreground element gets emphasized. The scene is carefully crafted to create balance.

Strategic leaders face the same compositional challenges. Your organization's "frame" is limited: finite resources, competing priorities, and market constraints. The art lies in choosing what belongs in that "frame" and what doesn't.

I've watched too many executives try to include everything in their strategic composition. They want to pursue every opportunity, solve every problem, and satisfy every stakeholder. The result is the visual equivalent of a cluttered, unfocused photograph: impressive individual elements that don't add up to a coherent story.

The discipline of composition forces us to make brutal choices. In photography, this might mean cutting out a beautiful tree that doesn't serve the overall image. In business, it might mean saying no to a profitable opportunity that doesn't align with your strategic direction.

Here's something most people don't realize about serious photography: for every image you see in someone's portfolio, they probably took fifty or one hundred variations. Using different focal lengths, various exposure settings, and multiple compositions of the same scene. They aren't just capturing what they see but testing what is possible.

I like to call this "systematic exploration".

When I arrive at a location, I have a plan based on my research. But I also know that the plan is just a starting point. The real work begins when I start experimenting with different approaches to the same fundamental challenge.

Smart leaders operate the same way. They develop strategic hypotheses, then test them with small experiments before committing fully. They try different approaches to the same market opportunity. They pilot new technologies with different teams. They iterate on their messaging until they find what resonates.

The leaders who struggle are often those who take the first shot and declare it perfect. They skip the experimentation phase. They mistake their initial plan for the final answer.

The photograph doesn't end when I press the shutter. What happens in post-processing is where the real artistry takes place. I'm playing with levels, exposure, composition, and enhancing certain elements while subduing others.

The same applies to strategic initiatives. The planning phase is just the beginning. The real work happens during execution: adjusting course based on new information, amplifying what's working, addressing what isn't.

Too many organizations treat their strategic plans like scripture. Once written, they're locked in stone. But the best leaders treat strategy like a raw photograph... a good foundation that needs continuous refinement to reach its full potential.

Coming Back Changed

Here's the part that changed how I think about both photography and leadership: some of my best work comes from returning to places I've been before.

That last trip to Factory Butte taught me something I couldn't have learned on the first visit. My eyes had developed, and my technical skills had improved. My understanding of light and composition had deepened.

More importantly, the location itself had evolved. Weather patterns had carved new details into the rock. Seasonal changes had altered the vegetation. Even my emotional connection to the place had shifted.

The combination of my growth and the location's subtle changes created possibilities that didn't exist during my previous visits.

This aligns with what I've seen in the most successful organizational transformations. Leaders who achieve breakthrough results rarely do it by constantly chasing new initiatives. Instead, they return to fundamental challenges with evolved thinking.

They revisit customer problems they thought they'd solved. They re-examine market opportunities they'd previously dismissed. They examine internal processes with a fresh perspective and new capabilities.

Photography has taught me that vision goes beyond seeing what's there. You must see what's possible, and that requires you to have the patience to return to the same challenges multiple times, each with a slightly different approach.

In business, this translates to a few practical disciplines:

• Regular Strategic Reviews: Don't just check metrics. Revisit your fundamental assumptions about your market, your customers, and your capabilities.

• Systematic Experimentation: Before committing to major initiatives, test different approaches on a smaller scale. Take multiple "shots" of the same strategic opportunity.

• Iterative Refinement: Your initial strategic plan is like a raw photograph. Good, but not finished. Build in regular opportunities to adjust and refine.

• Fresh Perspective: Bring in outside viewpoints. Sometimes you need someone else to point out the composition you're missing.

• Patience with the Process: The best strategic outcomes, like the best photographs, often require multiple attempts over extended periods.

• The difference between snapshot decision-making and strategic leadership is the same as the difference between taking phone pictures and creating art with intention.

Both serve their purpose. Sometimes, you need to make quick decisions based on limited information. But for the challenges that really matter, the ones that define your organization's future, you need the patience and discipline of a photographer returning to the same location until the light is right.

Your next strategic challenge is probably sitting in familiar territory. Are you willing and able to see it differently?

If you found this post helpful, consider sharing it with another executive grappling with AI, technology, and data. If you want to explore AI and other Technology strategies, grab some time on my calendar, and let's chat.

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