#14: Perspicacious Perspectives

Introduction to Concept:

Some of the best ideas evolve from a thinker’s ability to put him- or herself in the mind of someone else or to make unusual connections. For example, an architect once described architecture as “frozen music.” And when management guru Peter Drucker was asked by a young manager how he could become an outstanding manager, Drucker replied, “Learn to play the violin.” By focusing on an altogether new set of circumstances, by viewing work life from an entirely new perspective, we can acquire fresh insights into existing practices.

Examples:

When Jonas Salk was asked how he discovered the vaccine for polio, he replied, “I learned to think the way Mother Nature thinks.” When former San Francisco Giants coach Wes Westrum was asked his views on the game of baseball, he thought as a man-of-the-cloth would think: “It’s like church. Many attend, but few understand.” And when sportswriter Roger Kahn was asked to describe the sport of kings, he declared, “Horse racing is animated roulette.”

Procedure:

1. Pose a problem to the class or present an issue that is likely to concern them—as employees, as learners, as leaders, as parents, as citizens, as earth-dwellers, etc. Write this on the whiteboard or flipchart. Or ask them to decide on one organizational issue that concerns most of them.

2. Take off your shoes and ask others to do the same. Make a show of spraying the aerosol scent.

3. Write a sentence that describes yourself (not physically, but rather psychologically or mentally) and place it in your shoes. Ask others to do the same.

4. Ask participants to put on (or at least select) the shoes of some other person, as you look for a pair that fits you.

5. Now have participants view the problem from the perspective of the other person—using not only the sentences in the shoes, but also what the shoe-holder may know or can rightfully assume about that person. He or she, for example, could be:

- Someone who is an athlete

- Someone of the opposite sex

- Someone who is interested in music

- Someone who is very concerned with fashion

- Someone who loves animals, and so on

6. Participants will jot down their thoughts about the issue from the perspective of the shoe-owner. (The perspective, again, will be determined by the sentence in the shoe, by what the person actually knows about the shoe-holder, or by what the person has assumed about the shoe-owner.)

7. After the shoes are returned to their original owners, small teams will share their new insights acquired by putting themselves “in another person’s shoes” and will select a solution they feel could best solve the problem.

8. A spokesperson from each team will report on the ideas.

Extending the Activity:

1. Compile a diverse list of people whose work requires a lot of thinking—a CEO, a police officer, an entrepreneur, a college student, a scientist, a musician, a team leader, an activist, a politician, a warehouse foreman, etc.—and as problems arise for classroom consideration, have participants think as if they were in the shoes of one of these persons.

2. Take a given problem and encourage participants to view it from new perspectives—quite literally. Stimulate creativity with queries such as these:

“What if we were looking at this problem ten years from now?”

“What if we were looking at this problem from a bird’s eye view?”

“What if we were looking at this problem from a worm’s eye view?”

“What if we were looking at this problem as Europeans?”

“What if we were looking at this problem from outer space?”

“What if we were looking at this problem as we marched to the tune of a different drummer?”

“What if we were looking at this problem while working in the world’s best-equipped science lab?”

Workplace Connections:

1. Strongly advise participants to use a variation of this activity at their next staff or team meeting. The meeting leader distributes a 3″ × 5″ card to each member present. On the card, meeting attendees write a word that describes what they are outside of work. Ask them to avoid common responses, such as “mother” or “father,” but use instead a word(s) that reflects other dimensions of their persona: “avid sportsman,” for example, or “reader of mystery novels.” The meeting leader will collect the cards and, as discussion is held on particular issues or problems, the leader will pull out a card and ask, “How might an avid sportsman view this issue or solve this problem?” and encourage discussion.

2. Suggest that participants keep a weekly log in which they will record all the problems they have to solve or decisions they have to make at work. At the end of each day, they should place a star in front of those problems/decisions of greater import, ones that do not have to be solved or made “on the spot.” Typically, such issues have some temporal leeway.

For long-term issues, participants should locate three individuals (inside or outside their organizations) who can offer unusual perspectives on the problem or decision. Ideally, these individuals will function in a way that is markedly different from the way in which the participant functions. (Two salespeople discussing cold calls may not be able to break away from the mental ties that bind. But one salesperson discussing cold calls with an undertaker or a hospital administrator is more likely to have fresh insights.)

Questions for Further Consideration:

1. IdeaVerse at AT&T is a place employees can go to in order to have their mental muscles massaged. The walls are purple, the chairs are made of beans, and the ceiling has paintings on it. How would you decorate a room that invites employees to nurture their creative potential?

2. What barriers prevent people from exploring their creative sides?

3. What’s the difference between “creativity” and “innovation”?

4. What’s the down-side of creativity?

5. Experts assert that if your job is not aligned with your creative style, you may be crippling yourself. How and/or why could this be so?

6. Has downsizing reduced thinking time in your organization? If so, how can it be restored, even in small spurts? If it has not been reduced, how/when/where does thinking and discussion about such issues take place?

7. Although micromanagers or taskmasters would be appalled at the thought, the Microsoft company sets aside Friday afternoons as play time. Such a policy may not be feasible where you work, but a modification of it might. What could you do to make the workplace more enjoyable? (Go beyond the obvious answers.)

8. List ten individuals in your organization whom you know and would describe as “powerful” for one reason or another. Would you describe their thinking style as “creative” or “cautious”? How has this style propelled or impaired the career progress of each?