Everyone has a perspective. Whether or not we acknowledge this fact says a lot about our leadership style.
The subjective nature of experience is highlighted by the two photos taken on a climbing trip with my friend Steve House. While he took the photo from above, I took the one from below. In that moment our subjective realities were completely different.
It reminds me of the old story of the blind men touching different parts of an elephant and getting mired in arguments about what this creature was. Each was so convinced that the body part they were touching painted the full picture of the creature in front of them.
When we do this as leaders we miss out on vital information about any given situation. Getting curious and trying to understand how everyone's perspective is informed by their subjective experience (think marketing vs product development vs finance vs HR), allows a leader to make a truly informed decision.
These photos are serving as a good reminder for me to approach life with greater awareness about the impact of subjective perspective.
looking down
looking up...