Don’t Let Job Loss Reports Distort Your Perspective
by Lois MelbourneAs leaders we should all try to give the gift of perspective to our employees, our friends, and our families, especially in this difficult economic time. We may not have the power or authority to change the current physical or financial environment, but we can change our perspective and we can help others do the same. I believe that, as leaders, we must consider what perspective we follow and what perspective we project.
An important issue to keep in perspective right now is the unemployment rate. The news latches on to the job loss in the country and never the job creation. Yes, job loss is dramatic and traumatic, but to keep the economy in perspective – a terrible time, but something we will get through - we need to look at the job creation opportunities as well.
Jeffrey Miller provides the hard facts about the balance between job loss and job creation. We have to put it in perspective. See A Dash of Insight, JOLTS from the BLS.
And if we can’t create new jobs, we can map new career paths for existing employees by using Succession Planning and 9 Box Matrix tools. Make yourself and your managers aware of your wealth of talent. Share this information with employees, perhaps giving them a new perspective on their career potential.
A dear friend sent me a lovely e-mail piece on perspective. Unfortunately, I don’t know the source; know that I would give proper acknowlegment if I did.
A Tale of Perspective
One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”
“It was great, Dad.”
“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.
“Oh, yeah,” said the son.
“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.
The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”
The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”
Isn’t perspective a great thing? Let’s all spend more time focusing on everything we have, and less time on what we don’t have. Appreciate the good things in your life, especially your friends and coworkers! Help them refresh their perspective and appreciation.
Cheers,
Lois
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Thanks for the perspective but I can’t help but notice the underlying messages in this story. It associates city life with money, possessions and shallowness while depicting country life as being the opposite. It grossly generalises city people as being shallow, anti-environment, anti-family and anti-animals. Inhumane second class citizens with little regard for anything deeper than their earthly possessions.
When reading innocent tales full of loaded underlying messages like the one below please remember to think about the message(s). If you don’t, it could lead your thought patterns into dangerous territory – the life of a human that discriminate or alienate others or someone that retract from other humans because they are different or they aren’t the same nationality or race. Even worse, you could become a person that remove yourself from society altogether. Someone that live only for themselves and try to avoid anything and everything that doesn’t comply with their idea of what the world should be.
Coming back to the tale, in my experience it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, city or country, the one always has something the other envies or despises – and rightfully so. None of the things mentioned in the story is necessarily unique to the country or the city – We Create Our Own Reality.
The only part I agree with in the story is the last two lines. We should count each and every one of our blessings but can we please spread the word without the propaganda.
B. Free
Thanks for your perspective also. Having grown up on a farm, with very little money and now living in a city and loving both parts of my life, I never dreamed of projecting prejudice. I would prefer to give my readers the benefit of the doubt and hope that this piece will make them think about their perspective and maybe correct some misconceptions. This is why tales and fables and illustrative stories are created in the first place, to teach and reveal our own weaknesses and help us move beyond them.
The young boy has no prejudice or bias. He is open-minded and learning. These two environments are not pitted against each other; they are simply contrasted. The moral of the story is that often the perspective we choose is what defines us, not our environment. Within our professional jobs, it is important that we grab onto the positive elements around us and make the most of these opportunities, as opposed to being brought down by the challenges and negativity.