RoyalBankLetter

Published by Royal Bank of Canada

Powersof Observation
The mass of people take little notice of what’s going
on around them. They don’t know what they’re
missing by not observing more consciously.
Observation helps to bring success in business.
More important,it is the key to a vibrantlife...

"Youcanobserve a lotjustby watching," YogiBerra nature hadgiven himby making an effort to seewhat
said.Thispronouncement invariablydrawsindulgent othersmight overlook.
smilesfromadmirersofthegreat baseballguru’s off- Hiswhole method ofdetection, he said, was"based
the-wallwayof puttingthings.Butwhenyouthink of upon the observation of trifles." He once scolded
it,itssimplicitymasksprofoundtruth.Itclearly re- Watson: "I can never bring you to realize the impor-
flectsa lifetime’sexperience
of looking around the tanceof sleeves, the suggestivenessof thumb-nails, or
playingfieldandnotingsubtle
clues astotheopposing thegreat issues that may hangfrom a bootlace." In his
team’sintentions.Inthebroad field oflife, people ownspecialized way,thegreatdetective wasmaking
wouldobserve moreif theywouldonlywatchmore thebasic philosophicalpoint that nothing,absolutely
deliberately
whatisgoingonbefore theirveryeyes. nothing,is insignificant."All objectsare as windows,"
Whybe observant?Becauseit mightilyhelps carry Thomas Carlyle wrote, "through which the philosophic
a personsatisfactorily lifeinallitsaspects. eyelooks
through intoInfinitude itself."Anyone interested in
Indeed,observation
canbecrucial tolifeitself. The developing his or her observational skills would
graveyardsoftheworld arestrewn withtheremains of benefitfroma reading of theSherlock Holmesstories,
mortalswhodiedbefore theirtimebecausetheyfailed andprobably derivea lot of pleasure outof it inthe
totakenoteoflethal hazards.
Themostpoignant ofall process.
lastwordsis"oops,"oritsequivalentinothertongues. In anycase,Holmes wasa literary creation, and
Somearebornwiththefaculty ofkeenobservation, literary men and women have always been known for
andothers mustdevelopit.Thedoyenof fictional their knack of observing things that normally would
detectives,Sherlock
Holmes,wasoftheformer class. escape theattention of ordinary humanbeings. An
In oneof Arthur ConanDoyle’s storiesabouthim, outstanding observer like Marcel Proust could spend
Holmes saysof a manhe hasjustmetforthefirst almost a whole pagedescribing intheminutest detail
time:"Beyond theobvious factsthathe hasat some theeffect of lookingthrough a window ona rainy day.
timedonemanuallabour,thathetakes snuff,thatheis It is amazing how rich an experiencethat fine French
a Freemason,thathe hasbeenin China, andthathe novelist could extractfroma situation thatwould seem
hasdonea considerable
amountofwriting lately,I can banalto almost anyoneelse.
deducenothing else."Oneglance at hisvisitor was W. Somerset Maugham, whobecame thebest-sell-
enough
forhimtotakeinallthese pointsofidentity. ing author of his time, was one of those whohadto
Holmestoldhiscompanion Dr.Watson thathe be- train himself to be observant. When he abandoned a
lievedhistalentforobservation
waspartly hereditary.career in medicine tobecome a writer, he went through
At thesametime,however, he hadimproved on what theexercise of spending hours intheBritish Museum,
jottingdowneverything hecould gather about theshape, Thomas Edison issaidto havesaid.
colour,anddecorationoftheartifacts ondisplay. Edisonspent countless hours observingelectrical
Maugham later developed
thehabit of entering every andmechanical phenomena. In hisinvention of the
little detailabout thepeople hemetandtheplaces he electriclightbulb, he conducted 3,000 experiments
hadbeeninnotebooks which hecarried around withhim beforehe foundtheformula thatworked. He was
constantly.Heproceededtoturntherealities herecorded another whotrained himself totakeinallhesawand
intofiction acclaimed
foritsring oftruth anditsinsight noteit.He wrote: "Theaverage person’s brain does
intothehuman heart. not observe a thousandth part of what the eye ob-
Theall-time championof English writers, William serves. It isalmost incredible howpoorourpowers
Shakespeare, wasan observer parexcellence. He evi- ofobservation --genuine observation-- are."
dently believed, toparaphrase hisownwords, indraw- Edison was not the only one to remark on how
ingprofit fromeverything hesaw.Hewrote thatthrough heedless ordinary people are of the world around
observation, onecould lookclearthrough thedeeds of them,which is strange, considering thewaypeople
mento themotives behind them.Shakespeare didjust start outinlife. Smallchildren aresuperb observers.
thatwithhischaracters, giving hisplays theunique Theypoint outallsorts of things thatadults never
power which theyretainundiminished tothisday. noticeandaskpiercing questions which their parents
Shakespeare wasnotonlya great playwright, buta arehard-put toanswer. Theyareexceedingly alert in
great poet.Thebestpoets inhistory possessed theabil- applying theresults ofobservations. A childcanlook,
itytozero inontheparticulars that revealtheessence of forinstance, at themakeup of a boardgameand
a situation,a scene,ora per- absorb ina couple ofsittings exactly howthegame
sonality. Their incisivenessisplayed.
Children are wasnottheresult oftheir Inalltoomanycases, however, children aredis-
superbobservers’, inherent sensitivity.Theyac- couragedfrom exercisingtheir natural powers."Billy,
especiallyoftheir tively worked at trying to you reallyshouldn’ttalk aboutthe gentleman’s(funny-
parents’ wavs peer into the hearts of all looking)moustache," a mother Will say. Adults often
their subjects. Walter Sav- findthechildish habit ofpointing outthings discon-
ageLandor,no meanpoet certing, especiallywhenitapplies to themperson-
himself,strucktothecoreofpoetic observation whenhe ally. Children havean unerring anduncompromising
praisedRobert Browning’s"inquiring eye." eyefortheir elders’slightestflaws.
Thesamespirit applies
inthevisual arts--painting, Thethought thatchildren’s basic characters are
sculpture, photography,cinematography. Themasters largely shaped by their typically sharp observation
ofeachofthese disciplineslooklongandhardatscenes oftheir parents’waysshould leadparents tore-ex-
andobjects todiscover whatsmall details addup toan amine theirbehaviourintheir presence. Childrenemu-
imagethatbrings outtheirtruesignificance. latewhattheyseeandhear, forbetter orforworse.
Butobservation is morethanmerely visual. Onecan Aristotle’s famous admonition ringsloudandclear
observe bysound, bytouch, bytaste, by smell, andby inthiscontext: "Ifyouwould understandvirtue, ob-
thecentral nervoussystem, as whenone"hasa funny serve theconduct ofvirtuous men."
feeling" aboutsomething or somebody. It especially A boyorgirlattheageoffiveorsixhasa roving
counts in music. JohannStrauss Jr.wassaidto have mindfullofa curiosity thatverges oncreative gen-
drawnsomeof hismostfamous melodies fromhearing ius.Tobeveryyoung is"toseea world ina grain of
birds sing.Performing musicians listen to every note sandanda heavenin a wildflower," as William
andbeatof recorded renditions by masters to perfect Blakewrote in hisAuguries oflnnocence.
theirtechnique. Itmight seemtoadults thatchildren’s verbal ob-
Observationisalsooneofthechief operating princi- servations aremerely statements oftheobvious, but
plesofscience. Scientific
method isbased onthestudy theyareactually an unfolding ofthelearning proc-
of phenomenaastheygo through changes, whether natu- ess.Instead of saying, in effect, "everybody knows
ralorinduced. Discoveries
thatburst ontheworld likea that,"adults should be telling children whatmore
thunderclapareoften theproducts ofyears ofpatiently thereis to be knownaboutthesubject, andwhere
peering throughmicroscopesandnoting thetiniest per- theycanfindfurther information onit.Parents and
mutations inthesubject oftheresearch. Genius is 10 mentorsshouldseize themoment tostimulate a child’s
percentinspiration and90percentperspiration, as desiretolearnmoreabout anything; if suppressed,
theurgetopursue itmaynever comeagain. allkinds fromvarious media --especially books, which
Still, it seems natural toshushupchildren when can be referred to again and again. Simply noticing
theymaketheir running commentaries
on theworld, or things is pointless if onehasno ideaof whatthey
to laughofftheircomments as cuteness. Thatis a mean, or has no intention offinding outabout them.
mistaketo beguarded against,because it maydetract Background information enables one to interpret ob-
fromtheir fullpotential inthelongrun.Children who servations andput them in context.
areregularly subject toput-downs tendto become in- Knowledge is a defence against jumping to conclu-
hibited because theylearntokeeptheirthoughts to sions. So is an awareness that we are all inclined to
themselves to avoidembarrassment. Theymayalso see what we wish to see according to our preconcep-
stopmaking therandom observationsthattrigger their tions, prejudices, andcul-
comments in thebelief thatnobody is interested in tural conditioning. Good
whattheyexperience. To really watch observerstry to filter these
"Itistoberegretted thathabitsofexact observa- whatis"going on misleading factors outof
tionarenotcultivated inourschools," Baron Wilhelm around you,keep their thinkingas far as pos-
Humboldt wroteinthelate18thcentury. Judging from a clearmind sible. The act of observa-
thepaucity of subject matter in conversations among tion itselfisanantidote to
teenagers in western society, thesituation hasnot self-delusion, teachingthat
changedgreatly since then. things areas theyare,andnotas we wouldprefer
Evidently teenagers donotnotice muchintheir day- themto be.
to-day wanderings thattheyconsider worthtalking Observationisa great aidtojudgment. Itallows us
about.Oneofthebenefits ofbeing observantisthatan tomake evaluations on the basis of heighthened expe-
observant person isseldom lostforsomething to say; rience. "Anobservant man,inallhisintercourse with
thepassing scene provides a succession of conversa- society and theworld, constantly and unperceived marks
tional topics. Astherevered Canadian newspapermanonevery person andthing thefigure expressive of its
Gregory Clarknoted, goodobservers aresometimes value, and therefore, on meeting that person or thing,
accusedofmaking upstories. Inreality, though, they knows instantly what kind and degree of attention to
simply remember moreof whattheyhaveexperienced give it," as the noted American lawyer John Foster
thanother people do. wrote.
Asa philologist, diplomatandphilosopher ofsorts, Howdoesonebecome thatkindof effective ob-
Baron Humboldt deplored thelackof schooling inob- server?First, by the consciouspractice of "justwatch-
servation mainly because itleads toa public accept- ing." Itisnotassimple asitseems; toreally watch
anceoffallacious reason- what is going on around you requires a clear mind.
ing.Systematic observa- Goodobservers tryto ridthemselves of preoccupa-
Cutting through tion--seeing andrecord- tions,which isa good thing in itself psychologically.
theintellectual ingreality withone’s own Theyalsotryto slowdowntheir mental processes in
jungle by seeing eyes-- savesthe mind orderto take everything in.
thingsastheyare frombeingledastray. In Effective observation depends on a cultivated
thistricky world of ours, memory. Impressions picked up inthecourse ofevery-
we allhaveto fightour day life are worthless if they are not retained. Good
waythrough thickets of erroneousassumptions, mis- observers file away what they experience in the backs
leadinggeneralizations, anddeliberatemisinformation. of their minds forfurther reference. A person whohas
By making usfocus on theactual rather thanthepre- taken note of how a certain thing is done will bring
sumed, informed observationcanfreeusfromthetyr- that knowledge to bear when he or she is faced with
annyof theory. It canshowusthepaths through the doingit.
intellectual
jungle which leadusasclose aspossible to Ona practical plane, military instructors showstu-
theplaintruth. dents pictures and see how many features in themthe
Thatcanonlyhappen, however,if a person isable students can pickout and interpretas to theirsignifi-
tosynthesize whatheor sheobserves, comparing and cance. The more often they go over the photos, the
combining impressions to comeup withrounded con- more details theyare able to identify.Officer trainees
clusions. Todo so takes a kindof continuing educa- aregiven drawing materials andsentouttosketch bits
tion, consisting of gatheringbackground knowledge of of the countryside in detail. Since observation is so
importantinjournalism, student reportersaresentout floor andnotedozens ofpoints aboutitsworkings. An
ona street andtoldto makenotesabouteverything alertsales representative can enter someone’s office
theysee. andtellhowbesttoapproach theperson after a quick
Ordinary individuals wishing to sharpen their ob- glanceat thedesk. Observation hasitsmostpractical
servationalskills mighttrythesamemethods. Itisan applicationinbusiness andother forms ofadministra-
interesting
exercise totake notes on,say,a streetscene tion.A sharp business person isonewhocansizeupa
andthencompare themwitha photoofthesamescene situation accurately andquickly. No onebuta good
andseewhatpoints havebeenmissed. Thisinvariablyobserver candothat.
showsthefallibility oftheaverage person’s percep- TheAmerican industrialist Eugene C. Graceobvi-
tion.Whenobservation becomes a habit;however, one’s ouslyhad business first in mind when he wrote: "IfI
intakeofdetails isalmost sure toimprove. wereto prescribe one process in the training of men
A simple practical ruleforthose whowanttoim- whichis fundamental to success in any direction, it
provetheirobservationalskills is,"Walk, don’tdrive." wouldbe thoroughgoing training in the habit of accu-
Thoughtheyseea lotwithperipheral vision, drivers rateobservation." LikeSherlock Holmes, an effective
(andcyclists) havetokeeptheir eyesontheroad. The observerin business sees what others overlook,whether
habitofwalking exercises themindat thesametime ina productionline, anadministrative routine, or a
asitexercises thebody. A city-dwellerwhostrolls to balancesheet.
the officeeverydayis One’spowers of observation arenevermorese-
never withoutmental verelytested thanwhenitcomes to thehuman factor.
Building an stimulationasheorsheob- Aneffective business person willtrytounderstand the
abilitytosize serves buildings,traffic, caresandmotives ofcolleagues andcustomers byus-
upa stiuation andother people. Connois- ingtherules ofgoodobservation: watch deliberately,
at.firstsight seursof urbanlifevary pickup clues to theircharacter fromtheirtalkand
theirroutes to savour a comportment,andkeepone’s mindbothclear andopen.
city’s variety. Misjudgments of people canleadto serious costsin
A trail through thewoods mayseemdevoid of l
e
f
i business. Theyareusually madein theabsence of a
toanunobservant person, butit willbe teeming with senseofwhatmakes a person tick.
interest foraninformed observer. Every tree, every "Perhaps thereis no property in whichmenare
wildflower, everymushroom hasitsownidentity to moredistinguished fromeachother, thanin thevari-
thosewhoknowwhattheyare.An ordinary hikerwill ousdegrees inwhich theypossess thefaculty ofobser-
seea pretty little yellow bird;a knowledgeable ob- vation,"theAmerican jurist William Wirtwrote. "The
serverwillseea malegoldfinch. Whatisnothing but great
herdofmankind passtheir lives inlistless inat-
an orange butterfly to oneperson is to another an tentionandindifference as towhatisgoing onaround
amazing monarch butterfly. them,while those whoaredestined to distinction have
Among themostaccurate observers ofallarewoods- a lynx-eyed vigilance thatnothing canescape."
menaccustomed tofinding their waythrough thewil- Inother words, observation isa major keytosuccess
derness by noting natural signsin a landscape that --andnotonlytosuccess inbusiness. Forinstance, the
wouldseemcompletely uniform to a city-dweller. The observationofpeople --oftheir feelings,their wants
well-known Labrador trapper HoraceGoudie, whose andneeds --isanaidtothemutual understanding that
autobiography Trails to Remember waspublished by makes
forsuccessful personal relationships.
JespersonPressofSt.John’s, Nfld., in1991, oncetold Theobservation ofthepassing scene isproof against
of howhe gotseparated fromhisson-in-law on his boredom;everydaybrings newsensations, newthings
firstvisit todowntown Toronto. Goudiehadonlybeen toenjoy andto think about. Peoplewhoareinterested
overtheroute fromhisson-in-law’s suburban hometo inthings areinteresting themselves,soobservation in-
downtown oncein a car,butwhenhefound himself on directly
lends individualspopularityintheirsociallives.
hisown,hewalked forseveral kilometres tothevery Mostof all,byproviding constant mental andemo-
doorstepofthehouse withouthesitation.Hewasguided tional stimulation, observation letspeople knowwhat
by everything he hadseenandmentally notedabout it means tobetruly alive --to livelifeto itsfull
thestreets,signsandbuildingsonthat first
cartrip. potential.Andregardless ofwhatever other successes
Butgoodobservation is by nomeansrestricted to onemayhave, theleading ofa vibrant andfulfilling
theoutdoors. A trained engineer canscana factory life isthehighest success.