Walking through the airport the other day, I noticed something odd.

As I looked over to my gate…it was all men.

Some of them seemed like co-workers, standing around and chatting with each other.

Others were solo, headphones in, maybe scarfing down a sandwich.

But all dudes.

It made me think...

Was it my destination? (El Paso, TX)

Or maybe the day of week? (It was a Friday afternoon.)

Maybe it’s more business travelers?

Are we even still in an era where more business travelers are men than women?

I was perplexed/bored enough to look up whether or not there was a macro gender split on air travel…turns out it’s actually flipped — 52% of global air travelers are women.

So I look back over to the gate.

And upon closer look, there were actually plenty of women (and children) waiting for my flight.

They were calmly seated, chatting, reading, charging, etc.

I’d just missed them on first glance as they weren’t the ones standing and crowding the gate 20 minutes before boarding. 🤦‍♂️

I chuckled a bit at how my brain had so quickly tried to draw a conclusion based on a very visible few…while screening out all the others in plain sight.

I think we fall prey to this in our solo businesses as well.

We see others boasting about successes on LinkedIn — so everyone must be doing well.

Or, we read headlines of big consulting firms cutting staff — so all consulting must be in dismal shape.

Well, perhaps those conclusions could be true.

But more likely, there’s more nuanced (and less sensational) story happening just beneath the surface.

And we can see it more clearly by reminding ourselves that the most noticeable prospects/peers/competitors in the room aren’t the only ones in the room.

In fact, they’re probably outnumbered.

💡

-Wes