I just finished spring break in Park City snowboarding with my three kids. Each morning as the blinds opened from our kitchen window, the question of clarity was answered as we noted the "visibility" of the day. Technically, visibility is a measure of the distance at which an object or light can be clearly discerned. It was funny how visibility affected the emotion of the morning. Tuesday morning, the bright sunshine and clear blue sky, energized our steps to get on the mountain. Thursday morning the fog and snow left my 8-year old daughter more interested in the day off. Higher visibility on the slopes meant more confidence, less fear and more fun!
Leaders create visibility for people in their organization. Consider how your clarity as a leader affects the emotional well being of followers. Clarity determines levels of credibility, confidence, joy, and propensity for risk, verses attitudes of mistrust, doubt, uncertainty, protectiveness and fear.
Howard Hendricks used to say, "Where there's a fog in the pulpit, there's a mist in the pew."
FYI for science buffs: The international definition of fog is a visibility of less than 1 kilometre (3,300 ft); mist is a visibility of between 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) and 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) and haze from 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi)