How perspective matters in career and life
Sometimes the most powerful insights come not from climbing the mountain, but from seeing it clearly from a distance - a lesson that applies equally to our professional challenges.
I stood at a viewing point last weekend, gazing at the magnificent silhouette of Zugspitze against the sky. Germany's tallest mountain rose majestically before me, its true scale suddenly apparent from this vantage point.
The panorama was breathtaking.
But what struck me wasn't just the view itself.
It was the revelation that came with it.
Why we need distance to see clearly
From closer positions, Zugspitze blends with its surroundings. You know it's there, but its true magnitude remains hidden among the neighbouring peaks.
It was only when I reached the perfect viewing distance that its towering presence became unmistakable.
🧠 This mirrors how we perceive challenges in business and life.
When we're too close to a problem, we lose sight of its dimensions. The obstacles seem simultaneously insurmountable yet deceptively simple.
During my early days building Unschool, I was constantly in the weeds of operations. Every minor setback felt catastrophic because I couldn't see beyond it.
The failed partnership meeting
The technical glitch during an important presentation
The team member who suddenly resigned
Each issue consumed my entire perspective.
It wasn't until I forced myself to step back – literally taking a weekend away from the office – that I could see these weren't crisis points but simply regular hurdles on the entrepreneurial path.
Why do entrepreneurs often struggle with maintaining perspective?
As entrepreneurs, we're typically deeply immersed in our businesses, making it difficult to create the psychological distance needed for clarity. The daily pressures of execution create a form of tunnel vision that can limit strategic thinking.
This is precisely why stepping back isn't just helpful—it's essential.
The viewing point brings clarity that proximity cannot
As I stood at that perfect vantage point, something fascinating happened.
Zugspitze, which had seemed just another mountain from other angles, now clearly stood as the giant it truly is.
The surrounding landscape revealed itself not as disconnected elements but as a coherent whole.
Features that seemed random now displayed their natural harmony and purpose.
💡 This is what happens when we gain distance in our thinking:
→ Problems reveal themselves as opportunities
→ Competitive threats transform into potential partnerships
→ Dead-end projects show unexpected connections to future innovations
During our Y Combinator journey, I remember feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of feedback, connections, and possibilities. It was like trying to navigate a dense forest while only seeing the trees immediately in front of me.
It wasn't until our advisors pushed us to articulate the five-year vision that everything came into focus.
The daily grind suddenly had context. The difficult decisions had clear parameters.
How often should teams step back to gain perspective?
Research suggests that quarterly strategic retreats combined with weekly reflection sessions create the optimal balance between execution and perspective. The frequency should increase during periods of rapid change or uncertainty.
At Whatever Matters, I've found that even a weekly one-hour session dedicated to elevation thinking produces remarkable clarity that carries through the entire week.
Sometimes you have to go far to see near
The most striking realisation at the Zugspitze viewing point came when I trained my binoculars on details of the mountain.
I could see features that would be completely invisible if I were standing at its base.
🤔 How often do we miss critical insights because we're too close to our situation?
In my Whatever Matters newsletter last month, I explored how proximity creates blindness. We become so accustomed to our surroundings that we stop seeing them clearly.
This happens with:
Your business model (you stop questioning fundamental assumptions)
Your team dynamics (you miss evolving tensions and opportunities)
Your personal habits (you don't notice gradually developing patterns)
Your market position (you miss how competitors perceive you)
When I moved to Stuttgart to co-found caisy.io, the geographical distance from my previous ventures gave me unexpected clarity about them. I could suddenly see strategic opportunities I'd been blind to when I was immersed in the daily operations.
Does physical distance always create better perspective?
Not necessarily. What matters is psychological distance – the ability to mentally detach from immediate concerns. Physical distance often facilitates this, but some individuals can achieve the same perspective through meditation, structured thinking exercises, or even conversations with outsiders.
The key is finding what creates that mental shift for you personally.
The paradox of perspective
There's a beautiful paradox in needing distance to see what's close to us.
Standing at that viewing point, I could appreciate Zugspitze's true scale and significance in ways impossible to perceive from its base.
Yet to gain this clarity, I had to leave behind the comfort of the familiar.
I had to journey to find the right vantage point.
I had to trust that this different perspective would be worth the effort.
📊 Research shows that psychological distance improves creative problem-solving by up to 30% by allowing us to think more abstractly about concrete challenges.
When building our team at caisy.io, we instituted a practice I call "elevation sessions" – structured times when we force ourselves to mentally step away from immediate problems and view our business from different altitudes:
Orbital view (industry trends, 5+ year horizon)
Satellite view (competitive landscape, 1-3 year strategy)
Drone view (quarterly objectives, cross-functional impacts)
Ground view (weekly tactics, immediate solutions)
This practice has transformed our decision-making by ensuring we don't lose the forest for the trees.
Can too much distance be harmful?
Absolutely. While perspective is valuable, excessive distance can lead to disconnection from operational realities. The ideal approach balances high-level thinking with ground-level engagement – what I call "the dance of altitudes."
Finding this balance has been one of my greatest challenges as a leader.
How to create distance when you can't find a viewing point
Not everyone has access to perfect vantage points like my Zugspitze viewing location. The good news is that psychological distance can be created in multiple ways:
Temporal distance – Consider how you'll view today's challenge one year from now
Spatial distance – Work from a different location, even briefly
Social distance – Imagine how someone else would see your situation (a mentor, competitor, or customer)
Hypothetical distance – Ask "what if" questions that challenge your assumptions
During the pandemic lockdowns, I found myself stuck in my apartment in Hyderabad, unable to get the physical distance I often used for clarity. Instead, I developed a ritual of "mental mountaineering" – setting aside time each week to purposefully elevate my thinking.
I would write questions like "How would this look to me five years from now?" or "What would my biggest competitor see as my blind spot?" and then dedicate uninterrupted time to exploring these perspectives.
The insights gained often rivalled those from actual retreats or travel.
How do you know when you need more perspective?
Watch for these warning signs: repeatedly facing the same problems, feeling emotionally drained by routine challenges, inability to articulate your long-term vision, or team members frequently misaligned on priorities.
When I notice these patterns emerging in our caisy.io team meetings, I know it's time to schedule an elevation session.
The view worth finding
As the sun began to set behind Zugspitze, casting long shadows across the landscape, I was reminded of an essential truth:
Clarity doesn't come to those who simply wish for it.
It comes to those willing to seek the right vantage point – whether physical or metaphorical – to gain the perspective that only distance provides.
The most valuable insights in my entrepreneurial journey haven't come from working harder within my existing framework.
They've come from stepping outside it entirely.
From creating distance.
From finding my own perfect viewing points when challenges seemed insurmountable.
➡️ Sometimes the most important step in solving a problem isn't moving closer to examine its details – it's stepping back to see its place in the larger landscape of your life and work.