Seeing Clearly in 2025: How Resolution Shapes the Way We See, Lead, and Thrive
This post uses vision as a metaphor to explore clarity in the complementary domains of life, leadership, inclusion, and emotional well-being. We recognize that vision is experienced differently by visually impaired individuals, and this metaphor is not meant to diminish or exclude those experiences.
“The Nearsightedness Epidemic Has Become a Global Health Issue,” declared an October 2024 Scientific American. Myopia (nearsightedness) means difficulty seeing things far away and is projected to affect half of the world’s population by 2050.
This is yet another trend exacerbated by the pandemic. We, and kids in particular, spend too much time indoors and on screens.
In his book Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries, Neil DeGrasse Tyson summarizes: “Up close, you can see brushstrokes, but you cannot see the overall picture.” It can sometimes be challenging to know how close to get to a picture or a situation. If we retreat too far, we miss the brushstrokes. If we get too close, we miss the whole picture.
In behavioral terms, myopia can refer to being so hyper-focused on what is in front of us that we don’t pay attention to what lies ahead. Just as children are losing the ability to see the world clearly, adults seem to have lost the ability to perceive it.
The new year often comes with a list of “resolutions:” commitments to a particular goal for the coming year. But the word “resolution” in this context can be thought of as a combination of what we see with our eyes (reality—the raw data) and perceive with our minds (our interpretation of reality—and what that data means to us). Resolution means to focus. but it is really about our ability to differentiate between two different points, just as conflict resolution involves reconciling distinct parties and views.
Resolution is the clarity with which we see the world and how we develop a plan to adapt to it.
“Clarity” might apply to how situations and circumstances are perceived by people and organizations, friends, relatives, coworkers, and even ourselves when we’re lucky. There is not much clarity if things are not fully formed or expressed. Our level of clarity impacts how we interpret and respond to the world, work, and life.
Healthy workplaces and relationships tend to be built around clarity, clear definitions, and open communication, providing a sense of predictability and security. In organizations built around clarity, employees fully understand the current situation and can likely foresee what is coming their way weeks or months in advance. The structure of work and the expectations around it can provide clarity the world doesn’t offer.
Toxic workplaces thrive on unclear rules, vague expectations, and hidden exclusions, creating environments where employees’ mental health suffers because orders are contradictory, rules are arbitrary, and the value of the individual is uncertain or constantly in flux. The result for both managers and employees? Stress, anxiety, and a lack of trust.
If resolution is the clarity with which we see the world, distortion is the noise that obscures and alters what we perceive.
In optics, distortions (interference with how light hits the eye) can include any change in the density of the medium light transits or the distance light must travel. Just as our vision can be distorted by physical factors like refractive errors or environmental effects, our perceptions can be distorted and refined by emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, or joy. Emotions can bring reality into focus.
In the corporate environment, these distortions can shape how employees see the world and impact the actions of leaders, managers, and colleagues. When we fail to recognize these distortions, we risk making decisions clouded by blind spots or based on impulsive reactions. If those distortions dominate over long periods, that can erode trust, connection, and productivity in the workplace. Instead of getting lost in echo chambers, we end up lost in a hall of mirrors, and everyone suffers.
Our job is to reduce refractive errors so that reactions to information become dynamic, highly accurate, flexible, and inherently creative.
Riding the emotional Rollercoaster — with eyes wide open
But it is next to impossible to maintain clarity when life feels like being in the front car of a roller coaster, bombarded with situations across multiple domains: politics, crime, economics, climate, and health. The new year promises more of the same. Uncertainty triggers our survival instincts — flight, fright, or freeze — and autonomic responses reflect anxious states. Core beliefs and our cultural norms can lead to further distortion of perception, particularly if society is in flux and those core beliefs and cultural norms are being called into question — or rewritten in real-time.
Information changes so rapidly that we have little time to process what is happening around us. So we make snap judgments—not because we want to, but because we believe we must. That overwhelming volume of information, often unfiltered, is delivered at such a high speed that it can blur our “resolution” and ability to focus. The speed at which we travel in our minds can distort our perceptions and impact how we respond.
Over time, this constant overstimulation can overwhelm the brain’s processing capacity and lead to physical, cognitive, and emotional disjunctions. Visual and mental overload can worsen anxiety and irritability and reduce our ability to regulate emotionally.
This piece reframes our New Year’s “resolution” beyond setting goals to gaining clarity in how we perceive and navigate life. Distorted perceptions—shaped by misusing the healthy adaptive role of emotions, unchecked biases, and overwhelming information—blur our decision-making and impair our well-being. We suggest seeing situations “eye to eye” instead of being primed to seek “an eye for an eye.”
The Miracle of Sight
Let us move from the metaphorical to the physical for a bit. Eyes are extraordinary organs, in and of themselves, and a visible part of the central nervous system. The millions of photoreceptors in the retina convert light into electrical signals, which are transmitted via the optic nerve directly to the brain’s visual cortex. This anatomical and functional relationship is direct and immediate and (except when we are sleeping) is “always on” and constantly feeds us updates about our environment.
Light rays reflected from an object travel through the cornea aqueous, pupil, lens, vitreous humor and land on the retina. Muscular lens adjustment, known as accommodation, focuses the image directly on the retina. If this adjustment is not done correctly, we suffer from either nearsightedness (myopia) or farsightedness (hyperopia). Both conditions are easily corrected with optical lenses.
The retina itself is a complex tiling of photoreceptors called rods and cones. When stimulated by light, they produce electrical signals transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve. Where the optic nerve connects to the retina precludes the existence of photoreceptors. Any light which falls on the “blind spot” is not perceived by the viewer.
The rods and cones do not have a continuous physical link to the optic nerve fibers. They communicate through three distinct layers of cells via junctions known as synapses. These layers of cells connect the rods and cones to the ganglion cells, which respond to photo stimuli according to a receptive field. As the rods and cones are at the back of the retina, light passes through the various cell layers to these receptive fields and is then transmitted via synaptic junctions back towards the optic nerve fibers — which are then sent onward onto the visual cortex in the back of the brain where those images are processed.
The eye can detect a single photon and adjust to light ranges that span many orders of magnitude. No camera has yet been built that can match the eye’s performance. It follows that anything that disrupts the transmission or processing of signals within the visual system will impact the image’s resolution, which is ultimately interpreted by the brain.
A camera is very similar to the eye and is built on similar underlying principles. For a photographer, choices of filters, lenses, vantage points, focal lengths, and tools can alter what the camera sees and what appears in the final picture. These parallels are handled instantly and organically by the eyes and the entirety of the human visual system. There is also a duplication and cross-over that allows for stereo or depth perception cameras don’t have.
Images processed by the visual cortex located in the occipital lobe of the brain precipitate interpretations based on memory and emotions. The amount of visual information it receives and processes is massive. Nearly half of the brain is dedicated to vision and visual reception. In many ways, “we are our eyes.”
Visual processing can broadly be separated into two pathways. These are the “what” and “where” components of visual processing, often called the two-stream model. The occipitotemporal processing stream is critical for visual recognition of objects (“what” something in our visual field actually “is”). These smaller cells are dedicated to fine-tuned spatial resolution (color and clarity).
Signals are then sent to the temporal and parietal lobes, respectively, allowing for further analysis and integration with other sensory information. Much synchronization happens across the brain in the processing of images on a moment-to-moment basis; the eye is a very small part of a much larger perceptual and information-processing system.
The Brain’s Canvas: Subject to Interpretation
Our visual system provides a lens through which we interpret the world, shaped by both ‘hardware’ and ‘software.’ The ‘hardware’ — the eyes and visual cortex — is neutral, processing raw data without interpretation. The ‘software’ — our biases, emotions, and cultural norms — adds meaning and context to what we see. Like a camera, this system combines mechanical precision with interpretive layers, but biases and filters can alter our perceptions over time, shaping how we experience reality.
The eye structure and the various processing mechanisms control how that data reaches us; however, how two people perceive identical data can be vastly different. Examples of this include witness accounts of accidents or important events, where people see the same event but have very different interpretations of what happened. Even for the same person, an interpretation of an identical event can vary daily. What we see may be fixed, but our perceptions of what we see are perpetually shifting.
External filters like social media and TV introduce biases that pre-color the data our eyes and minds process. Like prisms in a kaleidoscope, these filters distort reality. While our visual systems are neutral, internal biases make it easy to jump to conclusions — especially in today’s world of siloed, pre-interpreted information.
Are we prisoners of our visual systems? Our visual systems are there to provide the best information possible so that we can make the best decisions. Making uninformed decisions or snap judgments generally serves no one well.
In other words, we can decide in favor of anger or appreciation, fear or fellowship, resentment or of gratitude. We can get trapped in the current news cycle, or we can look more carefully at the world around us and the people we know and love and realize that much of what is presented is overly dramatized and unnecessary. How we respond truly is up to us — but “discernment” and “resolution” — in “how we see what we see” and how we determine what things mean do matter. In a very real sense, the world is what we make of it.
On a given day, one person might feel scared, angry, or worried by an event — that someone else might see as an exciting challenge. By the same token, thinking carefully about things allows us to see that today’s obstacle might be tomorrow’s opportunity. A wider view of chaos may reveal hidden patterns of order. Focusing too closely on a particular problem can obscure the bigger picture.
Discernment: A Leadership and Life Superpower
Between myopia and hyperopia, it is easy to get trapped in a particular mode, but people who have a lasting impact on society use both modes. They see what’s at a distance and what is close, are not distracted from the best course of action, and do not forego one reality for another. Discernment is the ultimate life—a way to see the world without distortions and quickly sift the important from the irrelevant.
Discernment doesn’t always come naturally — but it can be practiced. It involves adhering more toward the visual systems' inherent neutrality: minimizing distortions that alter our perceptions unnecessarily and allowing objectivity and subjectivity equal play. We can’t always be completely objective, and our core values do certainly have an impact on what we see — but by stacking up all of those lenses like watchmaker’s loupes — actual solutions become startlingly clear — exterior forces no longer control us, nor are we at the mercy of external information.
In other words, myopia and hyperopia can combine and play off each other as “reality” and “intelligence” intermingle, producing accurate assessments and new and exciting creative solutions to problems.
We need external information to understand a problem; and we need a clear mind to see solutions or react appropriately. The two acting in concert are the definition of discernment — accurate sight — and “right action” arrived at through accurate interpretation of that information.
A common practice in behavioral therapy is to do what is called a “camera check,” an objective assessment of a situation before we react and respond.
Controlling our emotions rather than being controlled by them is an important first step to discernment. Perceptions and stereotypes that lead to snap judgments about people or situations never serve anyone well. By confronting and recognizing biases early (both our own and those of others), we no longer hold on to assumptions that can cloud (or completely occlude) what we see.
The ultimate goal of collective discernment is that we all end up “seeing” more or less the same picture. Still, we can creatively address any problems through the lens of our personal knowledge bases and experiences.
In other words, absent true discernment, how we perceive something may not always be the reality of what we see. “Perception can cause deception,” in other words, if we are not careful.
The Mind-Eye Axis: Balancing Emotion and Reason
While the machinery of the eye and perceptual systems is relatively static, our eyes do far more than see. They profoundly influence our emotional and psychological states.
Exposure to natural light regulates circadian rhythms, impacting sleep and mood. Emotions are a response to a sensory stimulus. We smile when we see something pleasurable that makes us happy: emotion follows sensation. In other words, visual stimuli can directly trigger stress or calm, as vision is instantaneously linked to the limbic system — and the parts of the brain responsible for emotion and memory. In a very real way, “what we see, we feel.”
How we respond to stimuli is a function of two systems in our brain.
System 1 is more instinctive. The limbic system is the brain’s emotional center, responsible for regulating emotions, memory, and survival-related behaviors while connecting sensory inputs to emotional and physical responses. Seeing something that seems dangerous puts the body into survival mode. No rational thought is involved when you first see a tiger in the forest, touch a hot stove, or are about to be attacked. This reflex skips the eyes and brain; fear is a friend. Your eyes sense danger, and the body goes into fight, flight, or freeze mode.
System 2 involves cognition and rational thinking. The prefrontal cortex is the brain’s control center. Its job is to ensure we act thoughtfully, in alignment with long-term goals, rather than purely emotionally or impulsively. It integrates emotions and other data from what we see and then generates a response.
The mind itself is complex — less systematic than the visual system and more functional than anatomical. When considering the concept of the “conscious” and “subconscious” minds, the subconscious receives signals from the sensory processing system and then projects these signals into the conscious mind.
Yet emotions and memories are blended into those sensory inputs. Which signals then get prioritized in this traffic jam?
Imagine an office building where the conscious mind is the C-suite on the top floor and all visual and sensory systems are the various departments on lower floors. In the C-suite, all of those departments are constantly seeking attention. And typically, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
Visual signals combined with emotions and memories projected into the conscious mind determine what we perceive — and how we perceive it. This is how we create immediate visual associations. A pile of baby powder triggers an image of a baby to a mother but cocaine to a drug dealer (or investment banker). We are, in a very real sense, “perceptual prisoners of our experience.”
Resolution and discernment are the conductors of the symphony between cognitive and emotional thinking—they maintain equilibrium.
Seeing Eye to Eye at Work: From Myopia to Mastery
The corporate world is filled with vision-related jargon. A strong vision statement and good leaders guide organizations toward their long-term outlook with foresight and big-picture thinking. Leaders must see around corners, reframe strategies, and shift perspectives as circumstances evolve.
By opening the aperture, zooming in and out, and changing the lens to overcome blind spots, they can foster alignment by seeing eye to eye, maintaining focus, and achieving a 360-degree view of their goals! (all the while keeping their bonuses in their mind’s eye!)
In a corporate context, vision often refers to the company’s long-term direction and aspirations, which describe where it wants to be at some point in the future. As we have discussed above, vision can be colored by both market (external) and leadership (internal) perceptions of the business, so it is necessary to adjust a business’s “vision” or “optical prescription” periodically to align with evolving trends. Perception here can also refer to how colleagues, competitors, or stakeholders view us — or how we view them.
While driving, we almost unconsciously toggle between the windshield (the far view), rearview and side view mirrors (the rear view), and the instrument panel (the internals or near view) to study our surroundings and navigate accordingly. How we navigate at work is no different. Focusing on things near and far is essential to success in the “car of our careers” and the “car of our lives.”
It is said that in business, “perception creates momentum, and momentum creates reality.” But how far can one “forward sell?” How much expectation and emotion causes one to lose perspective of what is real and unreal?
When we misuse perceptions, emotions and biases can cloud our judgment and compromise our ability to zoom in and zoom out. In that state we become fixated on neither forest nor trees, and become like the blind leading the blind — no one entirely sure of the right direction.
Leaders with emotional or perceptual blind spots risk undermining their own (and the business’s) effectiveness. Marcus Aurelius identified one way to practice vigilance against this tendency through Amor Fati (“love of fate’): visualizing the worst and preparing accordingly.
Similarly, leaders who fail to recognize the true value of unique individual perspectives often miss the chance to deploy their most precious resource—human capital. Leaders can create truly dynamic and exceptional teams by recognizing that others have their unique views of the world.
Clearer Vision, Clearer Minds.
As we head into the holidays and 2025 approaches, remember that myopia — whether physical or behavioral — makes it easy to miss what’s right in front of us. We scroll through news about distant crises while overlooking the homeless person sitting beside us on the bus. Resolution is not just about seeing far or near but balancing both perspectives, recognizing the humanity and needs surrounding us, and responding with empathy.
Think about vision—not only for the distant future but also for the immediate present—and find clarity in how you see and engage with the world and the people around you.
- Do we truly accept others’ views and limitations? Or do we merely pay lip service to differences in pursuing our agendas?
- Are our agendas truly our own? Or have they been imposed on us from the outside — and if so, what is the goal of making us think, feel, and perceive this way?
- Are what we see and express actually what we think and feel? Or are we just parroting the rhetoric of the latest news cycle?
Our visual and perceptual systems are extremely powerful tools for discernment and creativity. Don’t be afraid to use them.
So as we step into 2025, the concept of “resolution” takes on a whole new meaning—not just as a list of goals but as a commitment to clarity and true discernment in how we see and lead.
Amidst rapid change and excess information, achieving a true “20/25” vision is more than sharpness of sight; it’s about how we perceive challenges, interpret opportunities, and respond thoughtfully and purposefully in our workplaces and lives.
We can aim to be peripheral visionaries and see the overlooked, the forgotten, and the seemingly small things that, if properly addressed, can make a big impact.
Questions for Reflection on 2025 Resolutions
1. Listening with my eyes: Am I actively engaging the person I am communicating with?
2. Camera check: In situations I am confronted with, can I zoom in and zoom out to get the full context before I respond?
3. Apply Filters: Once I have assessed the situation, can I identify the emotions that I might be feeling, acknowledge them, and then set them aside to take another look?
4. Framing: Am I effectively weighing strengths and opportunities against threats and weaknesses?
5. Lighthouse: Am I practicing discernment by observing and adaptively leveraging the wonderful emotions in my life?
This post was compiled by Sreedhar Potarazu, M.D. (who helps patients preserve and regain vision) and Carin-Isabel Knoop (who helps leaders and managers visualize better workplaces), in collaboration with Matthew Vernon Hanson and Daven Morrison, M.D.
References
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- Rafael C. Gonzalez and Richard E. Woods. Digital Image Processing. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1992.
- Berthold Klaus Paul Horn. Robot Vision. MIT Press, 1986.
- D. H. Hubel and T. N. Wiesel. Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat’s visual cortex. Journal of Physiology, London, Vol. 160, 106–154, 1962
- D. Marr. Vision. Freeman, 1982.
- Vishvjit S. Nalwa. A Guided Tour of Computer Vision. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993.
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