The Importance of Perspective

I was talking to a friend of mine about his recent work trip to Moscow. His trip was a business one, designed to train the team in their communications and advertising processes moving forward. At dinner the night before the workshop, my friend was talking to the team leader who was a bit anxious about how successful the workshop would be. Upon inquiring further, he learned that Muscovites don’t like being told what to do. Then the penny dropped, these businessmen and women in their mid- to late-30s have experienced Soviet Russia. They, as children, queued in separate queues for each food-type: bread, sugar, rancid butter, while their parents queued for other items. Comparing that day to now is a stark contrast, and this generation has experienced such a difference in lifestyle over a couple of decades. The team leader simply said: “As a race we don’t like being told what to do. We have experienced so many bad decisions that have been forced upon us”. Naturally my friend used this insight to adapt the tone of the workshop.

It is so important not to assume we all think in the same way. When you step back, this seems like an obvious point, but there are many times we rush in with our opinions and judgements without really understanding alternative perspectives. In the book What the Dog Saw, Gladwell gives many interesting examples of looking at the same information in a different way.

Last week, in Stylist magazine, I read, ‘Recent national statistics show that only 14% of German mothers return to full-time work once they have had a child, and of mothers with two children only 6% return. In the UK, by comparison, two-thirds of working age women with dependent children are in employment.’ Now, I wasn’t surprised by these statistics, because I have recently conducted a study into mothers of young children. We found that in Germany, mothers view having children as a privilege, something to be cherished. And German mothers are more likely to change their lifestyle and behaviours to mould around the child compared to other countries, where the child is seen more as “an addition to MY life”. Taking this insight in hand, when the European commission expressed concern over the lack of mothers returning to work, stating “Germany must better integrate women into the labour market” with recommendations for more childcare facilities, I disagreed. Yes, I believe childcare facilities should be increased, but it won’t drive German mothers back to work, not if it’s not within their set of values. If you want to drive German mothers back to work, you need to change their belief-system, which is a very hard task.

It is not enough to take your perspective and then add to it what you think might be another’s perspective (although this is a start) you have to ask them. Ask them “What?” and ask them “Why?” then you might glean some insight.