I’m here at the Great Arch in St. Louis – “The Gateway to the West” – to talk about perspective.
We all know that things that are further away look smaller. The architect here wanted to exaggerate that with this arch. The arch is tall – 630 feet – so it’s the second tallest monument on the planet. To exaggerate that, the architect made the segments at the top smaller than the ones on the sides so it looks like it goes event higher than it does.
Changing perspective is an important go-to play for leaders. You can do it a couple different ways. Generally, it means stepping away from your current position and looking back at it.
- You can do this in time. Imagine your future self looking back to today.
- You can also do this with position. “Hey, sit in my seat.”. Or, imagine you’re sitting in someone else’s position. How would it look?
- You can also do that by going outside your organization. “Hey, how would others do this?”
Changing perspective is a very important go-to tool for leaders.
I’m David Marquet and that’s your Leadership Nudge.
