Essay

The Clear View Principle

by Silvia Hartmann

Like KaiZen, what I call the "clear view" principle seems to be some sort of universal law, a kind of truth that always works, no matter where you apply it, and that if you try to go around or against it, will be more than dangerous in its repercussions.

What lies beneath is the understanding that you cannot extrapolate the principle of a thing from ONE occurrence.

That's similar to not being able to triangulate the precise position of any one thing from a single vantage point; and that in and of itself is another occurrence of the multi-view mystery.

When I said above that you "cannot extrapolate the principles of a thing from one occurrence", you could also say that you can't KNOW ANY thing from one occurrence, or you that you can't find out the whole truth about something.

In people's neurology, this is constantly violated.

For example, ONE meeting with ONE dog will set the tone for ALL ideas relating to dogs FOREVER - until and unless MORE and OTHER dogs are met under different circumstances which can ADJUST the original ideas.

Not all dogs are black. Not all dogs are fluffy. Not all dogs are friendly. Not all dogs are vicious. Not all dogs are nervous. Not all dogs are oversexed. Not all dogs are female!

It is only after MANY occurrences of the dog phenomenon that a person gets to a point where they have gathered enough triangulation evidence to have made a Venn diagram of WHAT EVERY DOG has in common, and how A DOG works.

What a dog is, and what is the truth about the species "dog".

Now whether or not you have mistaken ideas about dogs isn't that important really these days, but just imagine what would happen if someone formed their ideas of "woman" from a single occurrence? Mother, for example? Or the first ever girlfriend? Would that cause reality problems?

It just might ...

But here, we are not talking about human psychology so much as we are being very practical.

There are all manner of essential forms of knowledge to a person trying to conduct business which are essential; and in the case of internet business for example, let's just take the following cases in point:

ISPs - The people who host your website

Payment Processors - The people who bridge between your customers and yourself in money transfers

Web Publishing Software - The programs you use to create websites.

If you know nothing of anything, of course, one must start with JUST ONE.

At some point.

But the fact is that you will NEVER understand "the truth about ..." if you STAY WITH JUST THE ONE.

You will end up with a completely slanted idea of the "essence" of that business and a host of omissions and incomplete understandings - all of which will limit you in many, many ways that compound one upon the other over the years, in opportunities lost, old prejudices perpetuated, profit lost, chances unknown and more besides.

For every thing you need in your business, it is actually essential to TRY THREE before you settle down into a mode of being and behaviour that sets the patterns for the future.

This is a process that can NOT be short cut or circumnavigated.

You can't "read about" three ISPs and their performance and come away with an understanding of the real core truth of ISPs.

You need to INTERACT in REAL LIFE with them to know the truth.

Three ISPs, three times the investment, of course - but it is ONLY and ONLY in the direct interaction that the wisdom and key to the future lies, for what is learned here can THEN, and ONLY THEN, be applied on future ISPs up front.

That clear view principle is near enough inviolable.

Operating systems, publishers, advertisers, all forms of hardware and software - NONE of it can be known by just one example.

Practically, this principle is extremely powerful and one of the greatest short cuts to learning about ANYTHING at all.

This starts in the original decision phase when one knows NOTHING yet - instead of choosing JUST THE ONE (affiliate programme, POD printer, business card printer, financial advisor, lawyer, statistics software), choose THREE.

Run them side by side and at the same time and the learning from this is on a whole different level altogether, as the principles of the thing and the performance of the individuals become revealed, become cross-contextural and feed back upon each other - the omissions in one point to the strength of the others and vice versa.

After the test period has been concluded - and in many cases, test runs of all manner of products and services can be had at reduced prices or even completely free of charge! - a choice can be made that has a BASIS IN REALITY and ACTUAL FACTUAL KNOWLEDGE behind it.

It is a steep learning curve but also a natural one; and to apply the clear view principle to as many different facets of the business as possible, and even including trial periods for three employees when you're only looking for one in the end, is an upfront investment that pays out many, many more times whatever it cost in time saved and money wisely invested, and gets more and more profitable as the years pass.


Clear view to all,


Silvia Hartmann
http://SilviaHartmann.com

© Silvia Hartmann 2005