This episode requires taking a look at some visuals. You can find them here.

Here’s the official logo for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Take a quick look at it before continuing to read this article.

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No sooner had it been revealed to the public when a commenter on Reddit noted that it looked like a facepalm. Other Redditers immediately chimed in, “CAN’T UNSEE.”

The “Can’t Unsee” meme is all over the internet, and refers to a fascinating function of the brain: once your perception is changed in a particular way, you literally can’t go back to your old way of perceiving.

You may have seen three hands wrapped around a soccer ball when you first glanced at the FIFA logo. If you’re familiar with the world cup, you may have noted that the hands form the rough shape of the actual cup that goes to the winning team.

But once you saw the word “facepalm,” there is it, isn’t it? Try NOT to see the yellow hand covering the chagrined face — impossible.

Here’s a different example of #cantunsee, courtesy of Andy Clark’s 2023 book The Experience Machine. What do you see when you look at this image?

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I’ll tell you what it is: a black and white rendering of a greyscale photograph.

And I’ll write a couple more paragraphs so your eyes don’t accidentally see the photograph itself before you’re ready.

Most people who are shown this image see blotches of black ink and white spaces in the rough shape of a rectangle. (Of course, there’s isn’t any rectangle, but we’ll let that curiosity pass for now.)

The really interesting this about this image is that, after you see the second image, you’ll never be able to see it the same way again: as random blotches. You brain will have been irrevocably changed, with no going back. So don’t continue down this page unless you’re sure that you want to change your perception forever; as we used to say during playground tag, “no backsies.”

Ready for the second image?

OK, here it comes…

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The Greyscale Photograph

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You don’t have to look at it for long. A quick glance will probably do the trick.

Now scroll back up to the previous image. Do you see the Dalmatian? Even if you try not to?

Do your eyes pay special attention to one area of the image now? I’m guessing it’s the eyes and nose that have additional salience compared to when you first looked a couple of minutes ago.

#CANTUSEE in the World

OK, so that’s a cool / cute / pointless phenomenon that you can now use to win bar bets. Beyond that, so what?

Here’s the thing: #cantunsee is how we process everything. The words you’re reading now were once scribbles on paper, until you learned to read. Now you can’t look at this scribbles without hearing words in your head.

Every thing in your world is filtered through your model of the world, and every time you add new information to your model you change how you relate to that thing.

And it’s true of people as well.

#CANTUNSEE Other People

Your inability to unsee can be positive, as in the case of the Dalmatian — you can now find meaning that earlier eluded you.

And it can be, arguably, negative, if I ruined your enjoyment of a perfectly benign sports logo with a snarky reference.

But equipped with an understanding of how #cantunsee works, you can intentionally put it to good use.

For example, you may have formed negative opinions about some people in your life that could be updated by new experiences or information. And that updating could improve your relationships and your experience of life.

After all, we humans are quick to judge, and we’re never fully aware of the reasons for our assessments of others. Maybe your first impression was that Joe was rude, and now your brain is weighting Rudeness over all other behavioral patterns, just like the Dalmatian’s eye and nose.

Now, there is genuinely rude behavior out there, and you’d be a fool to ignore that fact.

But what if your initial impressions were highly incomplete; data collapses that omit the shades of grey?

You can actively look for counterfactuals to your first impressions. Direct your brain to seek out examples of Joe’s good manners and positive intentions.

You may very well find that you’ve tempered your black-and-white image of Joe with some shades of grey.

Maybe Joe brings coffee to Kwesi, who’s still on crutches after his skiing accident.

Maybe Joe’s “rudeness” is really an expression of him getting excited at brainstorming meetings, to the point where he interrupts other people.

Another way to #cantunsee is to make an effort to get to know someone in a fuller way. Initiate a conversation in which you invite them to reveal something tender about themselves, by you going first.

Maybe you discover that Joe spent a couple of teen years in foster care, and now his “rudeness” looks like a coherent stance against getting bullied. His behavior may still code as “rude” to others, but now you see a fuller picture that allows you to pull him aside with kindness rather than dismiss him with disdain.

Because that's the essence of buoyant leadership: choosing to see the world — and the people in it — with fresh eyes, not as threats to defend against, but as opportunities to engage with courage, curiosity, and compassion.

You’re Also a Black-and-White Image

This works both ways, of course: you’re a facepalm or a rectangle full of blotches to others. They’ve got their conditioned impressions of you, and the way you act day to day either reinforces those impressions or does nothing to correct them.

So this poses an interesting and potentially fun challenge: What can you do so the people who don’t know you as a full and complex human, #cantunsee more of the real you?

How can you greyscale yourself, or even add some color, so they #cantunsee your basic goodness even in your less-than-stellar moments?

In other words, what moves can you make that invite others to intentionally step into their own buoyant leadership?