Menu
“Just because you are right doesn’t mean I am wrong.
You just haven’t seen life from my side.”
– Cartoon (below)
One of the biggest blocks to innovation in business and personal reinvention is what is called ‘perspective blindness’.
This is where you’re so ingrained in your own paradigm, your own perspective and point of view that you don’t have a willingness to listen to anyone else’s opinion or viewpoint.
As a result, without realising it you shut off the ability to the opportunity for new growth, or new and better ways of doing things.
It’s one of the reasons why for example, Nokia lost its dominance in the phone market, or why Kodak missed the chance to use the digital camera(which they actually had discovered!). They both refused to consider new and different ways of doing things.
The same thing applies in your personal life, when we remove ourselves from other people’s ideas, other people’s opinions because we don’t like them or agree with them.
And please don’t think you’re immune to this. Everyone I know can fall victim to the ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ mindset (including me).
If anything, what we’ve seen in the US election over the last week is that exact thing. An inability on both sides to perhaps listen, still lost in their own perspective that each is right, the other is wrong.
Yes, we have a new US President. Yes, probably most of the world welcomes that. But there still is an inherent problem in terms of positions and viewpoints. It was a record turnout on both the Republican and Democrat sides, despite many expecting a massive ‘blue wave’.
We can look at this and think, “isn’t it terrible?” and perhaps, ignore the bigger lesson for us all – that we can actually do the same thing in whatever part of the world we are in, no matter how aware and balanced we consider ourselves to be.
Without realising it we are often lost in our own perspective. Lost in our own paradigm.
What about this week and for the coming weeks to try ‘The Perspective Challenge’?
Deliberately stop listening to your own perspective, and seek out those that are very different to yours, and listen. Really listen to understand their point of view.
The gift will be in ideas to generate innovation in your organisation and ideas for personal reinvention to improve your life.
Best,
Shane
Do you know someone who would benefit from reading this? Feel free to share it with them. To make this super simple, I’ve included some share buttons a little further down this page.
