Royal Bank LetterPublished by Royal Bank of Canada

Powers of ObservationThe 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 vibrant life...

"You can observe a lot just by watching," Yogi Berrasaid. This pronouncement invariably draws indulgentsmiles from admirers of the great baseball guru’s off-the-wall way of putting things. But when you think ofit, its simplicity masks profound truth. It clearly re-flects a lifetime’s experience of looking around theplaying field and noting subtle clues as to the opposingteam’s intentions. In the broad field of life, peoplewould observe more if they would only watch moredeliberately what is going on before their very eyes.

Why be observant? Because it mightily helps carrya person satisfactorily through life in all its aspects.Indeed, observation can be crucial to life itself. Thegraveyards of the world are strewn with the remains ofmortals who died before their time because they failedto take note of lethal hazards. The most poignant of alllast words is "oops," or its equivalent in other tongues.

Some are born with the faculty of keen observation,and others must develop it. The doyen of fictionaldetectives, Sherlock Holmes, was of the former class.In one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about him,Holmes says of a man he has just met for the firsttime: "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at sometime done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he isa Freemason, that he has been in China, and that hehas done a considerable amount of writing lately, I candeduce nothing else." One glance at his visitor wasenough for him to take in all these points of identity.

Holmes told his companion Dr. Watson that he be-lieved his talent for observation was partly hereditary.At the same time, however, he had improved on what

nature had given him by making an effort to see whatothers might overlook.

His whole method of detection, he said, was "basedupon the observation of trifles." He once scoldedWatson: "I can never bring you to realize the impor-tance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb-nails, orthe great issues that may hang from a bootlace." In hisown specialized way, the great detective was makingthe basic philosophical point that nothing, absolutelynothing, is insignificant. "All objects are as windows,"Thomas Carlyle wrote, "through which the philosophiceye looks into Infinitude itself." Anyone interested indeveloping his or her observational skills wouldbenefit from a reading of the Sherlock Holmes stories,and probably derive a lot of pleasure out of it in theprocess.

In any case, Holmes was a literary creation, andliterary men and women have always been known fortheir knack of observing things that normally wouldescape the attention of ordinary human beings. Anoutstanding observer like Marcel Proust could spendalmost a whole page describing in the minutest detailthe effect of looking through a window on a rainy day.It is amazing how rich an experience that fine Frenchnovelist could extract from a situation that would seembanal to almost anyone else.

W. Somerset Maugham, who became the best-sell-ing author of his time, was one of those who had totrain himself to be observant. When he abandoned acareer in medicine to become a writer, he went throughthe exercise of spending hours in the British Museum,

jotting down everything he could gather about the shape,colour, and decoration of the artifacts on display.

Maugham later developed the habit of entering everylittle detail about the people he met and the places hehad been in notebooks which he carried around with himconstantly. He proceeded to turn the realities he recordedinto fiction acclaimed for its ring of truth and its insightinto the human heart.

The all-time champion of English writers, WilliamShakespeare, was an observer par excellence. He evi-dently believed, to paraphrase his own words, in draw-ing profit from everything he saw. He wrote that throughobservation, one could look clear through the deeds ofmen to the motives behind them. Shakespeare did justthat with his characters, giving his plays the uniquepower which they retain undiminished to this day.

Children aresuperb observers’,especially of their

parents’ wavs

Shakespeare was not only a great playwright, but agreat poet. The best poets in history possessed the abil-ity to zero in on the particulars that reveal the essence of

a situation, a scene, or a per-sonality. Their incisivenesswas not the result of theirinherent sensitivity. They ac-tively worked at trying topeer into the hearts of alltheir subjects. Walter Sav-age Landor, no mean poet

himself, struck to the core of poetic observation when hepraised Robert Browning’s "inquiring eye."

The same spirit applies in the visual arts -- painting,sculpture, photography, cinematography. The mastersof each of these disciplines look long and hard at scenesand objects to discover what small details add up to animage that brings out their true significance.

But observation is more than merely visual. One canobserve by sound, by touch, by taste, by smell, and bythe central nervous system, as when one "has a funnyfeeling" about something or somebody. It especiallycounts in music. Johann Strauss Jr. was said to havedrawn some of his most famous melodies from hearingbirds sing. Performing musicians listen to every noteand beat of recorded renditions by masters to perfecttheir technique.

Observation is also one of the chief operating princi-ples of science. Scientific method is based on the studyof phenomena as they go through changes, whether natu-ral or induced. Discoveries that burst on the world like athunderclap are often the products of years of patientlypeering through microscopes and noting the tiniest per-mutations in the subject of the research. Genius is 10per cent inspiration and 90 per cent perspiration, as

Thomas Edison is said to have said.Edison spent countless hours observing electrical

and mechanical phenomena. In his invention of theelectric lightbulb, he conducted 3,000 experimentsbefore he found the formula that worked. He wasanother who trained himself to take in all he saw andnote it. He wrote: "The average person’s brain doesnot observe a thousandth part of what the eye ob-serves. It is almost incredible how poor our powersof observation -- genuine observation -- are."

Edison was not the only one to remark on howheedless ordinary people are of the world aroundthem, which is strange, considering the way peoplestart out in life. Small children are superb observers.They point out all sorts of things that adults nevernotice and ask piercing questions which their parentsare hard-put to answer. They are exceedingly alert inapplying the results of observations. A child can look,for instance, at the makeup of a board game andabsorb in a couple of sittings exactly how the gameis played.

In all too many cases, however, children are dis-couraged from exercising their natural powers. "Billy,you really shouldn’t talk about the gentleman’s (funny-looking) moustache," a mother Will say. Adults oftenfind the childish habit of pointing out things discon-certing, especially when it applies to them person-ally. Children have an unerring and uncompromisingeye for their elders’ slightest flaws.

The thought that children’s basic characters arelargely shaped by their typically sharp observationof their parents’ ways should lead parents to re-ex-amine their behaviour in their presence. Children emu-late what they see and hear, for better or for worse.Aristotle’s famous admonition rings loud and clearin this context: "If you would understand virtue, ob-serve the conduct of virtuous men."

A boy or girl at the age of five or six has a rovingmind full of a curiosity that verges on creative gen-ius. To be very young is "to see a world in a grain ofsand and a heaven in a wild flower," as WilliamBlake wrote in his Auguries oflnnocence.

It might seem to adults that children’s verbal ob-servations are merely statements of the obvious, butthey are actually an unfolding of the learning proc-ess. Instead of saying, in effect, "everybody knowsthat," adults should be telling children what morethere is to be known about the subject, and wherethey can find further information on it. Parents andmentors should seize the moment to stimulate a child’sdesire to learn more about anything; if suppressed,

the urge to pursue it may never come again.Still, it seems natural to shush up children when

they make their running commentaries on the world, orto laugh off their comments as cuteness. That is amistake to be guarded against, because it may detractfrom their full potential in the long run. Children whoare regularly subject to put-downs tend to become in-hibited because they learn to keep their thoughts tothemselves to avoid embarrassment. They may alsostop making the random observations that trigger theircomments in the belief that nobody is interested inwhat they experience.

"It is to be regretted that habits of exact observa-tion are not cultivated in our schools," Baron WilhelmHumboldt wrote in the late 18th century. Judging fromthe paucity of subject matter in conversations amongteenagers in western society, the situation has notchanged greatly since then.

Evidently teenagers do not notice much in their day-to-day wanderings that they consider worth talkingabout. One of the benefits of being observant is that anobservant person is seldom lost for something to say;the passing scene provides a succession of conversa-tional topics. As the revered Canadian newspapermanGregory Clark noted, good observers are sometimesaccused of making up stories. In reality, though, theysimply remember more of what they have experiencedthan other people do.

Cutting throughthe intellectual

jungle by seeingthings as they are

As a philologist, diplomat and philosopher of sorts,Baron Humboldt deplored the lack of schooling in ob-servation mainly because it leads to a public accept-

ance of fallacious reason-ing. Systematic observa-tion -- seeing and record-ing reality with one’s owneyes -- saves the mindfrom being led astray. Inthis tricky world of ours,we all have to fight our

way through thickets of erroneous assumptions, mis-leading generalizations, and deliberate misinformation.By making us focus on the actual rather than the pre-sumed, informed observation can free us from the tyr-anny of theory. It can show us the paths through theintellectual jungle which lead us as close as possible tothe plain truth.

That can only happen, however, if a person is ableto synthesize what he or she observes, comparing andcombining impressions to come up with rounded con-clusions. To do so takes a kind of continuing educa-tion, consisting of gathering background knowledge of

all kinds from various media -- especially books, whichcan be referred to again and again. Simply noticingthings is pointless if one has no idea of what theymean, or has no intention of finding out about them.Background information enables one to interpret ob-servations and put them in context.

To really watchwhat is" going onaround you, keep

a clear mind

Knowledge is a defence against jumping to conclu-sions. So is an awareness that we are all inclined tosee what we wish to see according to our preconcep-

tions, prejudices, and cul-tural conditioning. Goodobservers try to filter thesemisleading factors out oftheir thinking as far as pos-sible. The act of observa-tion itself is an antidote toself-delusion, teaching that

things are as they are, and not as we would preferthem to be.

Observation is a great aid to judgment. It allows usto make evaluations on the basis of heighthened expe-rience. "An observant man, in all his intercourse withsociety and the world, constantly and unperceived markson every person and thing the figure expressive of itsvalue, and therefore, on meeting that person or thing,knows instantly what kind and degree of attention togive it," as the noted American lawyer John Fosterwrote.

How does one become that kind of effective ob-server? First, by the conscious practice of "just watch-ing." It is not as simple as it seems; to really watchwhat is going on around you requires a clear mind.Good observers try to rid themselves of preoccupa-tions, which is a good thing in itself psychologically.They also try to slow down their mental processes inorder to take everything in.

Effective observation depends on a cultivatedmemory. Impressions picked up in the course of every-day life are worthless if they are not retained. Goodobservers file away what they experience in the backsof their minds for further reference. A person who hastaken note of how a certain thing is done will bringthat knowledge to bear when he or she is faced withdoing it.

On a practical plane, military instructors show stu-dents pictures and see how many features in them thestudents can pick out and interpret as to their signifi-cance. The more often they go over the photos, themore details they are able to identify. Officer traineesare given drawing materials and sent out to sketch bitsof the countryside in detail. Since observation is so

important in journalism, student reporters are sent outon a street and told to make notes about everythingthey see.

Ordinary individuals wishing to sharpen their ob-servational skills might try the same methods. It is aninteresting exercise to take notes on, say, a street sceneand then compare them with a photo of the same sceneand see what points have been missed. This invariablyshows the fallibility of the average person’s percep-tion. When observation becomes a habit; however, one’sintake of details is almost sure to improve.

Building anability to sizeup a stiuationat.first sight

A simple practical rule for those who want to im-prove their observational skills is, "Walk, don’t drive."Though they see a lot with peripheral vision, drivers(and cyclists) have to keep their eyes on the road. Thehabit of walking exercises the mind at the same timeas it exercises the body. A city-dweller who strolls to

the office every day isnever without mentalstimulation as he or she ob-serves buildings, traffic,and other people. Connois-seurs of urban life varytheir routes to savour acity’s variety.

A trail through the woods may seem devoid of lifeto an unobservant person, but it will be teeming withinterest for an informed observer. Every tree, everywildflower, every mushroom has its own identity tothose who know what they are. An ordinary hiker willsee a pretty little yellow bird; a knowledgeable ob-server will see a male goldfinch. What is nothing butan orange butterfly to one person is to another anamazing monarch butterfly.

Among the most accurate observers of all are woods-men accustomed to finding their way through the wil-derness by noting natural signs in a landscape thatwould seem completely uniform to a city-dweller. Thewell-known Labrador trapper Horace Goudie, whoseautobiography Trails to Remember was published byJesperson Press of St. John’s, Nfld., in 1991, once toldof how he got separated from his son-in-law on hisfirst visit to downtown Toronto. Goudie had only beenover the route from his son-in-law’s suburban home todowntown once in a car, but when he found himself onhis own, he walked for several kilometres to the verydoorstep of the house without hesitation. He was guidedby everything he had seen and mentally noted aboutthe streets, signs and buildings on that first car trip.

But good observation is by no means restricted tothe outdoors. A trained engineer can scan a factory

floor and note dozens of points about its workings. Analert sales representative can enter someone’s officeand tell how best to approach the person after a quickglance at the desk. Observation has its most practicalapplication in business and other forms of administra-tion. A sharp business person is one who can size up asituation accurately and quickly. No one but a goodobserver can do that.

The American industrialist Eugene C. Grace obvi-ously had business first in mind when he wrote: "If Iwere to prescribe one process in the training of menwhich is fundamental to success in any direction, itwould be thoroughgoing training in the habit of accu-rate observation." Like Sherlock Holmes, an effectiveobserver in business sees what others overlook, whetherin a productionline, an administrative routine, or abalance sheet.

One’s powers of observation are never more se-verely tested than when it comes to the human factor.An effective business person will try to understand thecares and motives of colleagues and customers by us-ing the rules of good observation: watch deliberately,pick up clues to their character from their talk andcomportment, and keep one’s mind both clear and open.Misjudgments of people can lead to serious costs inbusiness. They are usually made in the absence of asense of what makes a person tick.

"Perhaps there is no property in which men aremore distinguished from each other, than in the vari-ous degrees in which they possess the faculty of obser-vation," the American jurist William Wirt wrote. "Thegreat herd of mankind pass their lives in listless inat-tention and indifference as to what is going on aroundthem, while those who are destined to distinction havea lynx-eyed vigilance that nothing can escape."

In other words, observation is a major key to success-- and not only to success in business. For instance, theobservation of people -- of their feelings, their wantsand needs -- is an aid to the mutual understanding thatmakes for successful personal relationships.

The observation of the passing scene is proof againstboredom; every day brings new sensations, new thingsto enjoy and to think about. People who are interestedin things are interesting themselves, so observation in-directly lends individuals popularity in their social lives.

Most of all, by providing constant mental and emo-tional stimulation, observation lets people know whatit means to be truly alive -- to live life to its fullpotential. And regardless of whatever other successesone may have, the leading of a vibrant and fulfillinglife is the highest success.