Influencing People:

Knowing People

Taking Different Perceptual Positions

Gaining New Understanding Through Seeing Things from Different Perspectives

"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that."  

~ John Stuart Mill

"The bird thinks it is an act of kindness to give the fish a lift in the air."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Perceptual Positions Defined

Your perception of any experience depends on the position from where you perceive it.

Same Reality, Different Perceptions

Key Benefits

There is never just one way to look at something – there are always different perspectives, meanings, and perceptions, depending on who, why and how is looking.

Taking different perceptual positions enables you to step out of what you are currently experiencing and gather new information by seeing things from a different perspective. You can also check out how your own words and behavior may be impacting on other people, and how they may be feeling about you and your actions. This new knowledge will help you make the necessary changes in your behavior and thus achieve desired outcomes.

Establishing Rapport and Building Trust

We all have different maps of reality – ways in which we perceive the world – and "we can only really trust people who look at the world the way we do. If we feel understood, we give people our trust and open up to them more easily."² Taking the other person's perceptual position will help you achieve rapport and be on the same wavelength with him or her.

 Tool in Point  Six Thinking Hats

The Six Thinking Hats proposal analysis tool invented by Edward de Bono⁵ is particularly useful for evaluating innovative and provocative ideas. While most of our thinking is adversarial, the six thinking hats technique overcomes these difficulties by forcing everyone to think in parallel. As participants wear each hat – white, red, yellow, black, green, or blue – they all must think a certain way at the same time... More

 Case in Point  Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab, the founder of the US leading discounted stock brokerage company, has talked about his effort to assume the perspective of his customer. "I am like a chief. I like to taste the food. If it tastes bad, I don't serve it. I'm constantly monitoring what we do, and I'm always looking for better ways we can provide financial services, ways that would make me happy if I were a client."... More

 Case in Point  Disney Creativity Strategy

Walt Disney was true genius at turning fantasies into reality.

According to Robert Dilts, an NLP pioneer who developed the technique called Disney Creativity Strategy, this process involves three distinct perceptual positions working in coordination with one another: (1) Visual imagery, (2) Kinesthetic feelings, and (3) Re-viewing the story in memory... More

Entrepreneurial Creativity: 4 Keys

Legend in Point:  The Blind Men and the Elephant

There are various versions of the story of the blind men and the elephant. The blind men and the elephant is a legend that appears in → different cultures different cultures ‒ notably China, Africa and India ‒ and the tale dates back thousands of years. Some versions of the story feature three blind men, others five or six, but the message is always the same.

Here's a story of the six blind men and the elephant.  >>>