Helicopter Vision

I've always been amused by the 'helicopter vision' which is the key personal quality demanded by some organisations when looking at human potential and ability. The metaphor is a terribly inexact one; in this day and age, the helicopter (whether a light passenger craft, a huge heavy military lifter, a gunship, or a surveillance/recon platform) is not likely to give you a significantly bigger picture of anything on a strategic scale.

In fact, a person with too much 'helicopter vision' will be confined to some sort of narrow-band tactical intelligence. In all likelihood, this 'helicopter' will fail to see the big picture unless at least other kinds of vision are used. To continue with this vaguely military metaphor, you need 'satellite vision' for a really big picture, 'infantry vision' for the man-on-the-spot picture, and 'infonet vision' for the data picture. Of all these four 'visionaries', the helicopter is most likely to be shot down, hardest to control, and most difficult to conceal in the battlefield. It is also easiest to deceive and most irritating to the people doing their job below.

Frankly, any organisation still touting 'helicopter vision' is obviously not good at assessing metaphors. I would think that such organisations need to be left behind somewhere in the 1980s. That kind of laziness will get you killed when you are up against superior conceptual and informational skills. It explains why an organisation filled with young helicopters will eventually find its mission going nowhere because of bad weather, low visibility and sparse knowledge of ground conditions (not to mention high fuel prices).