A Winning Perspective

Thursday, I took my 8-year-old son to his first professional baseball game.

Yes, he loved the crack of the bats and the green grass and the foul balls over our heads and filling out an All Star ballot.

But his favorite part was walking around Busch Stadium and looking at the field from different perspectives.

We started in our seats near the field, then we went up, up, up to the very top – first in right field, then in left field. He’d run up the stairs and race out to the edge to see how things looked from up there, from over here, from down that way and then the other. It was pretty magnificent to tell you the truth.

And I got to thinking about trying to better understand my company from the points of view of my partners and our clients. I need to do a better job of recognizing that the things that don’t seem like big deals to me might mean much, much more to those I work with and care about.

This is significant. It’s a game-changing lesson in perspective.

• Do you own a roofing company? When was the last time you climbed a ladder?
• Are you a sales manager? When was the last time you made a cold call? Not a ride along, mind you. I mean – when was the last time you felt that anxiety in your gut of meeting a prospect for the first time?
• When was the last time you answered your company’s phones for an hour and talked to customers?
• When was the last time you invited a few employees out to lunch to ask how you could serve them better?
• When was the last time you invited a few customers out to lunch to ask how you could serve them better?

I’m not saying the view’s any better or worse from different points of view. I’m simply saying – as my son reminded me Thursday – that it’s critical to remember that not every perspective is the same, and when you can learn to view the playing field from all sides and angles, you come out on top.

That’s a winner.