Telescope or microscope? Choosing the best lens to recognize Impact

“Is Serena Willians the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)? Yes. No. Probably. Maybe. Without a Doubt.” That’s the headline from a New York Times article this week. The author, Christopher Clary, starts by making an interesting point:?the answer is not straightforward, and first, we need to define greatness.?

One can argue that Steffi Graf or Martina Navratilova better deserve the GOAT title. They were ranked #1 in the world for more weeks than Serena has been. They had more challenging rivals and won almost the same number of Grand Slams with fewer attempts.??This would be looking at the sport through the microscope lens, chasing every tiny game statistic that may be hidden from the broader view.?

Serena has numbers that are as impressive as any of these players. But when we zoom out and take the telescope view, we see that her impact transcended her sport's microcosmos. She has beaten the odds. She has shown many how powerful and successful a black woman can be in a predominantly white environment. She shook elitist and exclusionary norms. She reinforced in the public eye what a working mom can achieve. All these challenges remain (Serena was out-earned in sponsorships by Maria Sharapova for years). But the world – and not just her sport - is a better place because of Serena.

As leaders, we must make decisions about the best lens to use all the time – and often when assessing impact. It’s important to have both lenses in our toolkit. But I find that the leaders who inspire me the most are the ones who take into account the broader impact across all stakeholders. And when using the telescope view, these leaders can?not only?see the bigger picture. They can also see the journey. If you zoom in on Steffi Garf and Serena as Pro Players, you only see one piece of the puzzle. But when you zoom out, you can see that they departed from very different places - what makes Serena’s achievements even more impressive.?

I don’t know about you, but I have no doubt who the GOAT is.??