Perspective over Perception
Most of us can’t help being ruled by our perceptions. That’s why people fight and push their view and gravitate to others with similar perceptions. It has also been said that perception is reality; so, managing perception becomes a paramount consideration for individuals and businesses alike. Perception matters to people; it can't be dismissed.
In practical situations, however, perception is an imperfect tool. It's not helpful because it is unique to you; it’s how YOU see things. You can’t use your perception to effectively lead others or teach people or learn anything new yourself.
For better or for worse, our perception of a situation or a dynamic, or a root cause is wildly coloured by our own biases, needs and past experience. Reality is often far more nuanced and far less concerned about us and our needs. If you rely on the work of others (and in business, we all do) then trying to get people to share a perception is very hard; and perhaps not as desirable as it sounds.
What you need instead is perspective. Perspective is the ability to become an actor outside of your own lens, to put yourself in the shoes of others, to step back and see things as they are from a remote view; to take yourself out of things for a moment.
We all see people pushing their perception onto others. Ironically others often resist, if for no other reason than to protect their own perceptions. This makes all the parties mad, because the lack of agreement feels personal. Building perspective, is a much more useful way to understand an obstacle or characterize a problem. You can be as objective and dispassionate as you need to be, yet still debate and grind without emotionally exhausting yourself and everyone else. Perspective helps because it gets us closer to how things really are, not just how we explain them to ourselves.
The Ambassadors is a 1533 painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. As well as being a double portrait, the painting contains a still life of meticulously rendered objects, the meaning of which is the cause of much debate.