We should never underestimate the power of a metaphor. Harvard Professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, recently identified an important leadership competence through a metaphor of a camera zoom button. Leaders must to be able to ‘zoom in’ and ‘zoom out’.
Lean demands an appreciation of the ‘big picture’, the fact that the ‘devil is in the detail’ and the need to ‘speak with data’. Moss Kanter captures this skill well through her ‘camera zoom button’ metaphor, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the both the worm’s eye and the bird’s eye view. Leaders must master both but the first important step is awareness.
