Are you looking at the needles or the forest?

It’s been a full week of meetings. Different purposes, different groups. But one thing emerged as a theme out of all of them. Perspective. In each of the meetings, there was a tendency to get into the weeds and not focus on the main objectives. In each meeting, someone asked a question designed at redirecting the conversation back to the appropriate level. In these cases, more strategic, longer term perspectives. The challenge for the folks conducing the meetings is that there is so much going on that they struggle with the day-to-day and getting to the right perspective. They are looking at the needles rather than the forest. How do you keep your perspective in the right place? Do you have someone to challenge you when you are looking at the needles instead of the forest?