Perspective. It’s important to have and can become critical to gain for nearly any type of discussion or negotiation.  So why don’t people see things the same way we do?  Here’s a simple physical illustration to help clarify…

Tiffany Carlson of the Sacramento Business Journal met with us for lunch to discuss ‘what we do’ at Heroik Media.  I’d first met Tiffany when she hosted us at the 40 Under 40 event last month.   Even though the event was pretty loud, which restricted conversation to a degree, she impressed me with her quick grasp of concepts and ideas we were throwing down.

Today’s lunch is in a much more conducive atmosphere at the Riverside Clubhouse (AWESOME chicken ravioli with mushroom pesto today!!) and we’re discussing our expertise and capabilities and to see where we might be complimentary.  While talking about the concepts of Digital Liquidity and how we approach proprietary platforms and systems there was a moment of puzzlement, so I whipped out the ol’ Perspective Exercise.

Thanks and credit for this go to Terry Tillman, leader, organizer and facilitator of several Wilderness Retreats that I’ve attended.  In fact this was the very first lesson he imparted and it was at the start of my own journey of personal growth.  It’s been invaluable over the ensuing years as it demonstrates effectively how the same event is different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Exercise: In a standing position, start with your hand in the air (like you just don’t care), with your index finger pointed up.  Moving your finger clockwise draw circles, around and around and around.  Continuing the drawing motion sloooowly lower your hand until it’s below your head and finally down about to your waist.  Look down.  If you’ve continued the movement exactly the same the circles you’re drawing will now appear to be moving in a counter-clockwise direction.

So what changed?  Exactly nothing, other than your position in relation to the event.  Viewing the circles from below and above changes your perspective of the event.  Two people viewing that same event from the opposite perspective could never come to an agreement on whether the rotation is clockwise or counter.

What could they agree on?  That there’s a finger.  That the finger/hand/arm is moving.  That the shape of the motion describes a circle. That the height of the circle has changed with the lowering of the arm.  Finding things to agree on paves the way to understanding.  AND…if they then switched positions they’d be able to agree that, from the other persons perspective, the direction indeed APPEARED to be opposite that which they’d originally observed.

What’s important about this?  That there’s always more than one position to be considered and the belief that you hold is only due to your current orientation.  When reaching an impasse it’s a great little physical reminder to yourself to consider the other persons perspective.  If they’re open minded enough you could even share it with them.  It’s just what I did with Tiffany to illustrate the point of how, in order to capture peoples hearts and minds, we’ll have to change their perspective.