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Overview

Back from the vault because the AI angle has only gotten sharper since it first ran. John Jantsch talks with leadership expert Cornelia Choe about a concept she calls perspective blindness. Choe explains the common phenomenon of believing you see the whole picture when you’re really only looking at a slice of it, and how leaders can close that gap.

AI has made data cheap, and that’s a real opportunity when you pair it with good judgment. Choe points to a survey where 39% of CIOs believed their company was ready for change, while only 7% of COOs at those same companies agreed. Gaps like that are fixable once you see them.

If you run a small business, lead an agency, or manage a team through constant change, this conversation gives you a practical way to get everyone looking at the same picture. Choe’s GEM framework walks through exactly how.

Guest Bio

Cornelia Choe is an international leadership expert, global keynote speaker, and Thinkers50 Radar honoree. She’s the founder of The Leaders Alliance and has advised leaders at organizations including the United Nations and the White House. She’s the co-author, with Marshall Goldsmith, of The Panoramic Leader: How Great Leaders See Differently. Choe grew up in 11 different places across three continents by age 18, an experience that shapes her work on mental maps and blind spots in leadership.

Key Takeaways

• AI made information easy to get, but didn’t make judgment easier. More than half of employees using AI don’t verify what it gives them.
• Perspective blindness is believing you see the whole picture when you only see a piece of it.
• Choe’s GEM framework: get up close to people who think differently, establish a trusted relationship over time, map how your view shifts.
• Microtranslations matter: Two leaders can look at the same data and reach opposite conclusions if they never explain their reasoning to each other.
• Outside perspective is one of the fastest ways to spot a blind spot no one inside a company can see.

Great Moments

• [00:02] – John opens with the question driving the episode: what if the thing limiting growth isn’t what you’re doing, but what you can’t see.
• [03:53] – Choe defines perspective blindness and why no leader can track every change happening around them.
• [07:06] – John asks whether perspective blindness even applies to a small business with no board. Choe says it matters more for small teams, not less, since they have to stay nimble and keep close to the market.
• [08:56] – Choe shares her own story of moving from Minnesota to Seoul at age 10 and having to rebuild her entire mental map.
• [16:01] – A case study of a new CEO who nearly quit after conflict with the founder who’d just left the company. A facilitated conversation with another former founder, someone who’d been through the same identity shift, is what turned it around.

Memorable Quotes

• “The problem a lot of leaders have is that when you’re a founder or a CEO, the higher you go in the hierarchy, the less you hear of what people actually think, and you hear more of what people think you want to hear.” — Cornelia Choe
• “What we’re really lacking and losing today is judgment, and it shows up across the board with all employees using AI.” — Cornelia Choe
• “We call this optimistic fear: acknowledging that there is fear and there could be danger, but still using that fear to propel you forward to get close to people who think differently.” — Cornelia Choe
• “Things are changing so quickly that the disruptors are being disrupted, and that’s a hard identity shift, because where you get your pride and your self-worth is from believing you’re the entrepreneur, the founder, the disruptor.” — Cornelia Choe
• “When you get closer to the people around you, even the ones you’re hesitant to approach, you see the situation much clearer, and you’re able to find a lot more solutions.” — Cornelia Choe

Resources

AI and judgment, change management, Cornelia Choe, Decision making, GEM framework, leadership, leadership blind spots, perspective blindness, Small Business Leadership, The Panoramic Leader