Kangaroos, rattlesnakes, and perspective

You may have seen a viral video out of Australia of a kangaroo that had a dog in a headlock. The dog’s owner calmly walks up to the kangaroo and gets into a brief fist fight to get the kangaroo to release his dog. The way this owner approached the situation gave me the impression that this is a regular occurrence for folks in Australia.

Then one day I was in Washington, D.C. speaking with a colleague when he mentioned to me that he has brother that moved to Tucson, Arizona. He said he wanted to go visit him, but “you all have rattlesnakes in Arizona and I’m afraid of rattlesnakes.” I assured him that I had lived my entire life in Arizona, and I have encountered rattlesnakes in the wild only a handful of times. And most of those times I was hiking through the desert. I tried to explain the rattlesnakes don’t just roam the streets looking for unassuming victims to bite.

Just as I had imagined that if I traveled to Australia, I would run into a boxing match between a man and a kangaroo, this colleague of mine had imagined what it would be like to visit Arizona, and he didn’t like the thought of even the remotest chance of running into a rattlesnake. There was nothing I could do to convince him otherwise.

Adam Grant once said, “Taking someone’s perspective doesn’t help you understand them better. You actually need to get their perspective. Instead of imagining yourself in others’ shoes, ask them what it’s like to walk in their shoes.”

How often do we try to “walk in someone else’s shoes” without taking the time to honestly ask and listen with intent to understand? To gain the proper perspective we must do more than assume we understand someone else’s life experiences. We also need to ask with sincerity and be patient as we ask others to be open about their experiences.

As we recently worked on offering ITIN lending to our members, we invited one of our employees to share his experience of what it was like to immigrate to the United States as a child and what it took to eventually become a citizen. The struggles and ultimate triumph he experienced were his unique experiences that he graciously shared with our group. This gave us all new perspective.

As leaders, understanding those whom we serve is highly important. I remember reading about the trend in some Silicon Valley tech companies of adding ping pong tables, rock-climbing walls, or other activities for their employees. After the initial novelty wore off, the companies were surprised that no one was using these things anymore. The problem was no one in charge ever asked employees if they wanted ping pong tables or rock-climbing walls at the office. If they would have asked and listened, they would have heard that the employees saw these as distractions that kept them at the office longer, away from spending time with their friends and family.

How many times do we deliver a “benefit” to our employees without asking if that’s something they want? How many products and services have we delivered to our members over the years that were never adopted and ultimately dropped because we thought they would love it without taking the time to understand what services they need? What could we gain by taking the time to ask and patiently listen?

French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr noted, “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.” This new year, I look forward to the opportunities to grow through gaining new perspective and learning through experiences different from my own.