“Early on the morning of 30 January 1990, George Cohon, president of McDonald’sCanada, left his hotel room and drove to Pushkin Square in Moscow. 

Nervous about the international press that would be covering the opening of the first McDonald’s in this nation and anxious to make the opening perfect, he arrived to see the streets empty in front of the fast-food restaurant except for a lone policeman. 

Wondering where the anticipated crowds of Muscovites were, Cohon approached the officer, concerned by the apparent lack of interest in the first McDonald’s opening in the Soviet Union. 

After a short conversation with the officer, Cohon rounded the comer to see, in organized lines behind police barricades, thousands of people waiting to taste their first Big Mac. 

The lines wrapped around Pushkin Square throughout the day, as over 30,000 Russians visited McDonald’s for the first time.” (Theresa Barthlolmew, 2002)

Now, the only thing that changed between the moment Cohon saw that empty street and the moment he saw thousands and thousands of people that opening day was his position.

It was the same day.

It was the same time.

It was the same intersection.
It was the same opening.
It was the same public interest.

It was just from a different angle.

Sixty years earlier, in September 1928, Alexander Fleming, a bacteriologist at St. Mary’s Hospital, returned to his laboratory after a short vacation.

As he resumed his work studying bacteria, Fleming began sorting through Petri dishes that had been left on a bench. One dish had been contaminated by mold. This was an ordinary enough occurrence in a laboratory at that time, and under normal circumstances the dish would have been thrown out.

But before throwing it away, Fleming paused.

He noticed that in the area surrounding the mold, the bacteria had disappeared. The rest of the dish still showed bacterial growth, but a clear ring had formed around the contaminant.

Intrigued, Fleming examined the dish more closely rather than dismissing it as a spoiled experiment. That observation led him to isolate the substance produced by the mold, which he later named penicillin.

The antibiotic age was launched, providing the first effective, widely used treatment for life-threatening bacterial infections such as pneumonia, strep throat, and sepsis. Millions of lives have been saved. 

The only thing that changed that September day was where Fleming placed his attention. He chose to look at that petri dish from a different angle.

It was the same lab.
It was the same materials.
It was the same experiment.

It was just a different way of looking.

Both of these moments are reminders that our first read of a situation can be incomplete.

Beth Kurland, Ph.D., offers four steps we can try when we feel stuck in one particular perspective and want a different way of looking.

1. Notice. 

Notice what it is that you are telling yourself about a given situation. How are you interpreting it? Is what you are saying accurate? Don’t judge yourself, just simply notice the workings of your brain with curiosity and openness.

2. Accept. 

Accept whatever your initial feelings are about the situation. You don’t have to put on a happy face and pretend everything is fine if you are feeling hurt or angry or upset inside. It’s okay to acknowledge whatever you are feeling and accept the emotions that are present.

3. Inquire. 

Inquire as to whether there might be alternative ways of looking at the situation. Imagine moving around a room and viewing the same object from multiple angles. Try on different narratives. Is there one that still feels authentic and accurate but might be more helpful to navigate the challenge at hand?

4. Shift. 

Shift where you choose to focus your attention. Shift the lens from which you are looking by choosing one of those other narratives. What happens in your body and mind when you do that? Invite in a new story and notice what happens as you rest your attention there.

I can’t wait to see what you see when you’re willing to look again. And if you need help finding that view, I’d love to assist you.

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