A Cow’s Eye View of the World

A cow’s eyes are on the sides of their head, whereas a human’s eyes are in front, so naturally, a cow would have a different view of the world.As a human, consider viewing the world from the perspective of that other person, be that a difficult customer, a deviant coder, an aloof and disengaged boss, or a wayward partner. Indeed, adopting the point of view of someone not like you will help you and your company better serve customers in an Age of Personalization. Below are tips for adopting that other perspective.

1. Pause the judgement and the emotions. It will make you more open-minded toward that other point of view.
2. Try to *like* that other person, even if it’s difficult at first. Embracing viewpoints of people who are different than you will help keep you fluid and flexible.
3. With that said, you don’t _have_ to like everyone and everything. But it’s important to get along.
4. Be curious about why they have another perspective and why they think and act the way they do. It may help you think and act differently and more flexibly in other situations.
5. Imagine if everyone else thought like this other person. How are _you_ the one a little off?
6. Embrace every different point of view as a potential new learning, a potential new opportunity.
7. Ask yourself how this new way of thinking helps you think differently about other things as well.
8. Pay attention to your little life routines and do some of them backwards. Your actions may help you put your thoughts on its head – which could be a good thing.
9. Honor the people who have touched you and helped you to think, speak and act differently – for they have helped you see and respond to the world in a different light.
10. Remember that thinking differently about the same or a new problem is the heart of all innovation, so embrace every opportunity to think and act differently, and fold others into your work and life who could help you to do so.

May we all see the world a bit more from the cow’s point of view!