The house is quiet.  I am on vacation, alone (temporarily) in rented digs.  I have satellite television.  Three unusual happenstances.

Eagerly I grab the remote and start searching for a good show to watch.  I search.  I flounder.

I can’t turn the TV on.  So I change tactics and switch remotes.

Three remotes later I need a glass of wine.  Not sure if it is the wine or the pigheadedness I show as I doggedly (as I mix my animals) pursue my goal but eventually I turn on the TV and the satellite and manage to maneuver both to a good show.  At this point I am almost too tired to watch!

A few days later finds me in a tiny plane flying to a remote community to lead a workshop on being a leader in a multicultural community.  As we wing our way through the vastness that is Northern Ontario I gaze at the cockpit.

I have a double take.

The controls in the cockpit look about as confusing as the remotes.

Of course they aren’t, but to my untrained eye they look about the same.

And so it is with perspective.  How much do we take in?  Do we really need 150 buttons on 3 combined three remotes?  Who uses 95% of those buttons?

To what degree do we need to tailor our communication for our intended audience – ramping up the complexity if required, or more often than not, culling and simplifying (without being simplistic) as we go.

Perspective – it’s an elusive companion.