You don’t need to travel 22 countries to understand your perspective.
You can start with 22 seconds.

Before you read further, try this quick exercise:

22-Second Lens Check

Take a breath and answer these two questions honestly:

- What’s one belief about leadership or creativity that comes from your past?
(e.g., how you were raised, mentored, rewarded, or criticized)

- How is that belief shaping the decisions you’re making today?
(helping you? limiting you?)

Write it down or say it out loud.
That’s a good starting point for your lens.

‍

Last year, I moved through 22 countries. From the flying tomatoes of La Tomatina, to the quiet rituals of a Kyoto tea ceremony, to the water-soaked chaos of Songkran, to the still air inside cathedrals in Porto.

I started the year on business: meetings, speaking events, strategy.
But what I learned had little to do with work and everything to do with perspective.

The world doesn’t look the same everywhere.
And we don’t look at the world the same everywhere.

‍

Your Lens Shapes How You Lead

In Agra, you watch street vendors use intuition sharper than data models.
In Taipei, I saw cashless systems thrive without friction.
In Prague, people questioned whether technology makes life better, or simply makes it faster.

Same tools.
Different assumptions.
Different lenses.

For leaders, founders, and creatives, awareness of your lens becomes a competitive advantage.
It determines:

what you consider an opportunity

what you dismiss as noise

what you believe is possible

and how you show up to others

‍

Innovation Starts With Awareness

Every meaningful idea starts with a moment of noticing.
A moment of asking:

👉 What assumptions am I bringing into this?
👉 Who might see this differently, and why?

If you only design or lead from your own worldview, you limit the impact of what you build.

Once you understand your lens, you can stretch beyond it.
And that’s where real creativity—and ethical AI—begins.

‍

For the Founders, Builders, and Thinkers

Your lens is one of your most powerful leadership tools.
Not because it’s perfect, but because it’s yours.
Understanding it helps you lead with clarity, communicate with empathy, and design for more than one type of person.

Before your next decision or idea, take 22 seconds and ask:

👉 What lens am I looking through right now?
👉 Is it helping me—or limiting me?

‍

‍