Differential Perspectives - 360 Degrees of Information

If you set out to learn a complex idea make sure that you learn it from all sides.

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Seek to fully understand that complex idea by learning each perspective while blending them together into your own model.

Learning Tools: Differential Perspectives - 360 Degrees of Learning. Book: Jack Welch and the GE Way bu Robert Slater. Book: Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Book: At Any Cost by Thomas F. O'Boyle.

If an issue is complex then you WILL NOT be able to learn anything meaningful about it in the 99% of the media out there that is made up of 60 second clips and 200-500 word articles with the same basic info repeated over and over.  If the issue is so simple that you could learn it in those short clips then it probably isn’t worth learning.  

LEARNING IS HARD.  If you want to learn something complex to the point where you can apply it then dedicate the time to do it.  

Just as an example let’s take the business practices and culture of General Electric from 1980-2000.  They were very innovative with their talent management, business management, financial management and process improvement programs well before ‘lean’ was a term.  There are a lot of lessons there that contractors and other businesses could apply today.  

Pick up at least 3 different perspectives - often conflicting and read them all.  Read with the intent to understand. Go out and talk to people at various levels that have first-hand or other relevant knowledge of the issue and hear all perspectives.  It is only then that you can begin to form your own model and make great decisions.  

What if more people took this approach to the many complex issues facing our businesses, our projects and our world?  




Customer Strategy Intersection
Having an effective market strategy is the #1 thing a contractor can do to ensure sustainable and profitable growth. For your strategy brainstorm the following and look for intersections:
Organizational Change and Sustainable Growth
Improving the rate that change is adopted across the whole company becomes increasingly more important and more challenging as a contractor grows. We will cover the basics of change, including how it is linked to strategic choices and management.
Project Income Projections
For a contractor to be effectively involved in the early stages of a project beyond understanding the whole project development budget, they must also understand the financing and cash flow of the project.