Perspectives

I bet if you put ten people in a room and gave them a topic to discuss within minutes what would emerge would be ten different perspectives on it. While some may overlap and even agree in a number of ways, I have little doubt that difference could be found in each. Because everyone has their own history, collection of experiences from which they draw, likes and dislikes, and biases and preferences, their "take" on anything, whether it is a topic considered to be light or heavy, varies. This is one thing that makes us humans so interesting and another that makes the work of communicators such a challenge.

This reality reminds me of quote from Charles Dickens' "Dombey and Son." Dickens wrote, "There were a hundred thousand shapes and substances of incompleteness, wildly mingled out of their places, upside down, burrowing in the earth, aspiring in the air, moldering in the water, and unintelligible as any dream." This points to a level of confusion the often emerges when multiple opinions or perspectives are put forth on any given topic at any given time. What is a communicator to do? How is a communicator to proceed in trying to develop consensus or persuade these people to support something or agree to take certain action?

Upon first glance, no question such a challenge is daunting. But the good news is that often times a thread of commonality can be found in most any set of multiple opinions. Also, because we humans share the same basic set of needs, the origin of our perspectives often derive from them. It is these two aspects of us from which communicators can begin to formulate their own set of talking points or messages when representing a client. Granted, while such a science is far from perfect, more often than not it can be enough to give communicators a chance at being successful in their outreach. Just remember: almost always this is not easy.