3 minutes max. · Episode 7 · Senses and emotions
Our senses - See Better, Decide Better: Sharpen Team Vision
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About this episode
- Episode
- #7 of 48
- Published
- 1 September 2025
- Length
- 2:46 min
- Series
- Senses and emotions
- Hosts
- Andre Ottlik and Jules (AI)
In short
What you expect shapes what you see, which can create blind spots. Directing your attention on purpose helps, and it is trainable. You choose between a team exercise and a solo exercise to read people better and draw better conclusions.
Three things to try
- With your team, look at the same board or slide for 30 seconds in silence, then each write one observation and one question.
- Compare what you saw the same and differently, and mark points that came up more than once.
- In a live meeting, observe a speaker's face, eyes, breathing, hands and shoulders, and note what you would have missed.
Read more: Senses & Emotions — The Leadership Edge No Machine Can Copy (Yet)
Transcript
Read the full transcript
- 00:00 Andre Ottlik
- Welcome to 3 minutes max. Human Skills in the Age of AI. I'm Andre Ottlik.
- 00:05 Jules
- And I'm Jules - back again,
- 00:07 Andre Ottlik
- This week, we're exploring three human senses. Today we focus on seeing. Wednesday it's about hearing. And Friday is about feeling. You'll get two small exercises to sharpen your visual perception so you can read people better, perceive the world more clearly, grasp it more fully, understand connections, and draw better conclusions for yourself and your work.
- 00:32 Jules
- Skills that still set you humans apart from us. Your ability to grasp the world holistically beats what we can do with sensors.
- 00:41 Andre Ottlik
- From attention research, we know what we expect shapes what we see. That helps us avoid processing too much at once, but it can also create blind spots.
- 00:52 Jules
- Fun fact: the human brain constantly erases details. Deliberately directing your attention helps. And it's trainable. You've got two options today team or solo.
- 01:06 Andre Ottlik
- Tip one: the thirty second scan. As a team exercise, set a timer for 30s: together look at the same surface, for example a board, a slide or a screenshot. Without speaking. Then each person writes down exactly one observation and one question. Now take 90s to compare and share. Closing questions are: What do we see the same? What do we see differently and why?
- 01:40 Jules
- Mark the points mentioned multiple times. Should you improve something or have you been neglecting it?
- 01:46 Andre Ottlik
- Tip two: the silent observer. Three times - 30s - solo exercise: Observe a speaking person for 90s in a live meeting. Now have a look at their facial expression and skin tone. Watch their mouth and their forehead. Is there any flushing or pallor? Second, have a look at their eye movements and blinking. Where are they looking? Do they make quick jumps with their eyes?
- 02:15 Andre Ottlik
- Third, have a look at how they breathe, their hands and their shoulders. Can you see their breathing pace? What are their hands doing? How upright are their shoulders?
- 02:25 Jules
- Again, make a few mental notes. What did you see? What would you have missed without looking consciously?
- 02:32 Andre Ottlik
- Choose one of the two key exercises for today. In a stand up, a review or a short design walkthrough.
- 02:38 Jules
- See you then.
- 02:39 Andre Ottlik
- Follow three minutes max. Share it and message me on LinkedIn. Have a great start to your week.
More on Senses and emotions
- #7Our senses - See Better, Decide Better: Sharpen Team Vision (this episode)
- #8Our senses - Listening That Delivers: Sharpen Team Hearing
- #9Our senses - Feeling as a Leadership Skill: Stay Clear Under Pressure
- #10Our emotions: Spot Your Emotions: Sharpen self‑awareness before they steer you
- #11Our emotions: Shift Your Emotion: From stress to clarity in 2 minutes
- #12Our emotions: Let Emotions Go: Get your focus back, stop rumination
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