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Perspective is Everything

Guest post by: Jim Stovall

Article Overview: Reality can be best defined as one's perception based upon their own perspective. Recently, I was enjoying an old, rather antiquated spy novel in which four opposing secret agents are sitting around a table, engaged in a card game. One of the agents was to receive a secret coded symbol that he was to write on the tablecloth. The secret coded symbol was to be picked up by a hidden camera in the ceiling of the card room. The other three secret agents were to observe the secret symbol as soon as it was written on the tablecloth and then report back to their respective spymasters.

Perspective is Everything

Reality can be best defined as one's perception based upon their own perspective.

Recently, I was enjoying an old, rather antiquated spy novel in which four opposing secret agents are sitting around a table, engaged in a card game. One of the agents was to receive a secret coded symbol that he was to write on the tablecloth. The secret coded symbol was to be picked up by a hidden camera in the ceiling of the card room. The other three secret agents were to observe the secret symbol as soon as it was written on the tablecloth and then report back to their respective spymasters.

At the appointed moment, one of the card players wrote the letter "M" on the tablecloth. The secret camera immediately picked up the symbol. The spy directly across the table abruptly excused himself and reported to his superiors that the symbol was a "W". At the same time, the two spies on the left-hand and right-hand sides of the table rushed to report that the secret symbol was a letter "E" or the number "3" respectively.

While the novel was otherwise forgettable, it was interesting to note that four trained observers-each with a goal as simple as identifying one character-all arrived at a different conclusion. The spies failed in their mission, not because they weren't observant or thorough, but because they didn't understand the rule of perspective.

You've heard it said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Everything is in the eye or the perception of the beholder. In order to work with people, you must be willing to understand, consider, and appreciate their perspective.

We have all met people who have a positive, upbeat outlook on life. From their perspective, it is the greatest meal ever, the most beautiful sunset in history, or the most wonderful music I have ever heard. On the other hand, we all know people who take a more cautious approach to describing life. From their perspective, the meal was okay, the sunset was somewhat enjoyable, and the music sounded all right.

In reality, these two individuals are describing the exact same things, and unless you understand and calibrate people's perspective, you will be misled and fail to get the information and feedback you need in order to succeed. When we understand people's perspective, we begin to truly communicate feelings instead of words.

Today's the day!

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Article Tags: communication, Jim Stovall, perception, perspective



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