Inattentional blindness happens when you fail to see an unexpected thing in plain sight…

And purely because of a lack of attention rather than any vision defects.

You might be concentrating so hard on other things in the frame or you just weren’t expecting to see anything different, that you fail to see some other thing happening right in front of you.

It’s an important phenomenon to understand, as it can lead to life or death situations.

Not so much in business though. Although it’s important for your team to be switched on and aware to the possibilities of missing some key information.

For instance, when we carry out our free cost saving printer or phone technology assessments, we must be investigators and with our customers help, gather all the required information.

It’s important we have all the data, as if we miss something, we may not present the best possible money saving solution to our customer. Attention to detail is critical.

This is also true for the service team. We’d rather they didn’t, but technical problems do occur, and it’s important they are solved quickly, so customers have minimal down time.

Central to this, is having the ability to assess the situation quickly, without having a case of inattentional blindness, and missing some key facts.

Really, it’s just about making sure your team are thorough and take their time in collating all the information, to get any repairs right the first time.

We’re thankful it’s never a life or death situation for us. But in some extreme situations it can be.

Like when a US nuclear submarine sank a Japanese fishing boat.

Back in 2001 Commander Scott Waddle ordered a surprise manoeuvre called an ‘emergency deep,’ when a submarine suddenly dives.

He immediately followed this with an ‘emergency main ballast tank blow,’ which causes the submarine to surface at its fastest and forces the bow high out of the water.

As the submarine sped to the surface a loud noise was heard and the entire submarine shook.

The submarine had surfaced at high speed directly under a large 200 feet Japanese fishing boat.

The submarines rudder (reinforced for ice penetration) sliced the fishing boats hull from one side to the other, causing it to sink and unfortunately nine people lost their lives.

What went wrong?

How could a state-of-the-art submarine not spot a 200 feet fishing boat close by?

The US National Safety Board exhaustive report documents all the ways in which the officers failed to follow procedures, and the distractions they faced.

However, the most interesting bit is why Commander Waddle failed to see the 200 feet fishing boat when he looked out of the periscope.

You see. Before emergency deep manoeuvres submarines return to periscope depth, so the commander can make sure no other ships are in the area.

The 200 feet Japanese fishing boat should have been in clear sight through his periscope, with Commander Waddle looking right at it, but some-how he still managed to miss it.

With all his experience and expertise, could Commander Waddle have looked right at the 200 feet fishing boat and just not seen it?

The answer probably lies in what he thought he would see when he looked, as he said later, “I wasn’t looking for it, nor did I expect it.”

…remember, directing your eyes at something doesn’t guarantee you’ll consciously see it.