Manila, 22 April 2020 — Three resources for a deeper dive into perspective-taking. 

Perspectives and Pandemic

Learning to take multiple perspectives is more important and urgent than ever as we face a daily avalanche of information, impressions, and insights during the Covid19 pandemic. How do we take care of ourselves and our work while bringing out our best to support others?

This month in Grow3Leaders, we already took a dive into Three Bias Traps, situations When Perspectives Conflict, and a paradigm for Allowing for Truth to emerge, including from unlikely sources.

In this post, we review three resources to take a deeper dive into perspectives. Two by watching short videos, and one with a research paper that is densely packed with value and requires more time to read and discover. 

Surviving and Thriving

Let’s start, however, with the remarkable and rapid effort by Alessandra Edwards and Dr. Amy Silver, two thought leaders in Australia, to write a book that is of immediate value to all of us: Brace for Impact — Surviving and Thriving in the Pandemic Era. This book, which the authors are making available free of charge online, is a valuable guide to support ourselves, loved ones, friends, and colleagues during Covid19. 

Starting out with personal stories, the authors go on to offer a credible third-person (objectified) view of how we might experience the pandemic in our Personal World perspective, in the broader context of what the authors see happening in the Observed World through the lenses of history, public health, and psychology. 

Now let’s introduce the three resources on perspective-taking.

#1 Classic

The central reason for taking multiple perspectives is to think of others and not just about ourselves. No one has made this point more convincingly than Daniel Goleman, who popularized the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) in his 1995 classic Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. 

Empathy and compassion are why we should take a second-person perspective: to see and feel what it’s like to stand in another person’s shoes. Goleman and his fellow researchers of emotional intelligence provide us with compelling reasons for getting out of our Personal World and into our Social World.

Watch how Goleman explains a simple way to take in our surroundings and the emotions of people around us in his TED talk Why Aren’t We More Compassionate? 

#2 Contemporary

The second resource offered here is definitely not for everyone, because it takes much more time and effort to unpack. It is an introduction to the comprehensive body of knowledge known as Integral Theory, which simply cannot be captured in a brief TED talk. 

We need to make time for a treasure hunt to discover the jewels that Integral Theory has to offers us. When we do, rich rewards await us: an extensive and open-ended meta-model for taking multiple perspectives in any and all situations of life, with a comprehensive framework for practice.

I have read An Overview of Integral Theory — An All-Inclusive Framework for the 21st Century, the research paper by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens many times, and continue to find new insights from reflecting on it. Going further, I have also devoured several books by the pioneer of Integral Theory, philosopher Ken Wilber. Working with this body of knowledge has had a transformational impact on my life and development as a leader.  Some of you might discover that its challenges and insights resonate with you also.

To make perspective-taking easier in practice, I adapted the four quadrants model of Integral Theory into the Three Worlds Model that I use in leadership training and coaching. As leaders, it’s vitally important in my experience that we build and practice skills to use and enact each of these perspectives, not just our default. 

This became apparent earlier today when I joined a webinar where two speakers took sharply different perspectives on the same topic, one almost entirely from a Personal World perspective, and the other entirely from an Observed World perspective, seemingly without awareness of their choice of focus. It made me reflect on the need for us as leaders to bridge these perspectives so that two or all three can be used and enacted. That’s exactly what Integral Theory helps us to do.

#3 Cutting Edge

The third resource introduced here can be grasped in a short time. It’s about perspective-taking as a core part of 21st-Century Skills. Frequently, these skills are introduced as The Four Cs, and this is introduced in this short and self-explanatory video. 

Who needs these skills? Well, everyone who wants to claim the 21st century as our time. Does that include you? Probably a no-brainer if you graduated after 1999. However, the same question applies to Boomers and Gen-Xers too. Do you want to live in the past century or the current one? If the latter, then 21st-century skills are important to all of us.

Upon reflection on the Four Cs of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication, we discover that perspective-taking skills are essential to make each of these work. From solving complex problems in the workplace to finding creative ‘out of the box’ solutions, and from navigating collaboration as a complex process to learning to speak the right languages to communicate effectively, perspective-taking is a core part of all these skills.

Grow3Leaders Challenge

In Grow3Leaders, we take the art of taking multiple perspectives seriously in our practice. Not just this month, but all year round. We are a private community of leaders from countries around the world, and from different generations, who are committed to learning and practicing effective leadership behaviors ‘out loud’ and together to create positive change in our workplaces. It’s 21st-century leadership we’re after.

Joining us is free of charge—not free of commitment. Send us a request if you feel that you are up to our Grow3Leaders challenge and are ready to join together with three of your colleagues in the workplace. Please ask them first, and let us know the names.

We look forward to learning from your team’s individual and collective perspectives.