5 steps to change perspectives

[Music]

so what do you do

as a business school student i have

answered this question approximately 500

times this year

that’s only a slight exaggeration as it

turns out i have a bit of a unique

background

i was an english major who worked in

film production before transitioning to

finance and then pursuing my mba

most people can make the connection

between the first bid and the second bit

and the third and the fourth but the

film to finance transition is usually

somewhat puzzling at first

in some ways they’re not so different in

film you’re dealing with

big diva personalities and in finance

you’re dealing with

big diva personalities but one thing

that is very different is the contract

contrast between the perspectives of the

two industries

to illustrate there is a questionnaire

called the herman brain

dominance instrument it’s a test you can

see you can take to see what your work

preferences are

when i was working in finance as an hr

exercise

my team and i took this test there are

four quadrants you can land in

there’s blue which shows a preference

for numbers and facts

then there’s green which is a preference

for planning and risk mitigation

then there’s red indicating a preference

towards building relationships talking

and mentoring people

and then there’s yellow which has a

preference for the new and novel

what can be done as you might expect

and frankly as you might hope my finance

teammates predominantly had blue green

preferences

they cared mostly about what the numbers

said and having proper planning in place

to mitigate risk

and then there was me my yellow and red

preferences were so high i was nearly

out of the circle entirely

and i suspect if my film colleagues had

taken that test most of them would have

been right there with me

and that’s kind of my point the

importance here is the contrast

it allows you to notice things you might

have missed otherwise when i was in film

my perspective wasn’t that different it

was only once i transitioned to finance

i started realizing what i was missing

and what they were i think it’s this

exposure to the different perspectives

that’s been a key

ingredient in creating my best

initiatives throughout my career so far

and i think this kind of

cross-disciplinary thinking is

especially important now

the technology sector is in need of

different perspectives the pandemic has

revealed that we’re innovative

but maybe not as much as we thought the

sector’s deep expertise

especially in logistics and

communications has thankfully kept

things going

but we’ve seen huge gaps in products

built for sectors such as

mental health education and caregiving

fortunately with the increase in demand

there have been new products coming out

to address these issues but we need many

more

technology’s promise has always been

that it would free up people’s times for

more valuable pursuits

but the pandemic has revealed that we

haven’t been doing enough of that

important valuable sectors remain

underinnovated

but i believe this is just the beginning

of the next wave in product design

similar to how the 2008 global financial

crisis brought on the next wave in

finance

so in many ways the pandemic appears to

be to technology what the 2008 global

financial crisis was to finance

the global financial crisis also

revealed a lot of gaps within that

sector

in particular it raised the question

what’s finance’s purpose in society

and asking this question proved to be

incredibly positive

experience for the industry overall

instead of always feeling the need to

fulfill this default expectation

and profit at all costs finance could

step back and explore its role in

society

and this could be technology’s moment to

do the same

but to create new products new

approaches will be needed and that means

mixing different perspectives and indeed

research supports the finding

that diverse teams ultimately make

better more innovative teams

but that only works when those different

perspectives listen to each other and

work together

this can be a challenge people think a

certain way because they truly believe

it’s the right way to think and it can

be difficult to convince them otherwise

so in case it’s helpful i’d like to walk

you through some steps i discovered

while working on an initiative that

meant a lot to me

the creation of our platform’s first

sustainable finance strategy these steps

help me contribute my perspective

despite being an outsider personality

before we begin though it’s important to

note that you should be excellent at

meeting your team’s expectations already

the reason for this is if you’re at the

top of your game and handling everything

deftly this will earn your colleagues

respect and when you advocate for change

even if your colleagues don’t initially

agree with you they will listen to you

okay this is the foundation now onto the

steps

step one determine the unique

perspective you have to contribute

i’m a proud planeteer for those of you

unfamiliar with the reference

it comes from captain planet a kids

cartoon show featuring teenage

superheroes who come together

to fight pollution using the powers of

nature earth

wind fire water and heart that was my

perspective

i came from a generation that grew up

watching captain planet and reading

about silent spring and social studies

we were taught to be concerned about the

environment furthermore

i came from a sector film which truly

believed

in the purest sense of the notion that

anything is possible

this gave me my unique perspective i

believe that there was a market coming

that would want investments that

incorporated environmental social and

governance factors

combined with my anything can be done

outlook from film i set to work

that brings me to number two step two

prepare so that you can be ready for the

right moment

even when the idea is there it needs to

meet its moment

sustainable finance has been a concept

for a few decades now

but it remained a niche market for a

long time but over the last decade

with the moment of pause from the global

financial crisis the emergence of data

showing that esg

investing results in better long-term

performance over time

and above all growing customer demand

that made scaling the strategy possible

if you can see the value of your idea on

the horizon start preparing for that

moment as soon as possible so you’ll be

ready for it when it comes

see what resources are available at the

firm start reading books and articles

and importantly

start reaching out to your colleagues

and that brings me to step number three

build meaningful relationships with your

colleagues

interview your colleagues to get a

better understanding of the current team

culture in your colleagues unique

perspectives

meet with them individually if possible

maybe taking them out for coffee tea

and be sure you don’t only ask them

questions about your idea

build a real relationship and ask them

questions about themselves

what do they value what excites them and

what worries them

it’s important to do this for two

reasons one from a purely logical

perspective you’ll need these people to

support you if you wanted your idea to

progress forward

and two your colleagues have genuinely

valuable insights

learning about them will help you to

enhance your idea

and that brings us to step four round

out your idea

using the new information you’ve learned

using the information you’ve gathered

from your colleagues

start rounding out your idea what has

the exceptionally logical colleague

pointed out to you that you might have

initially missed

what potential pitfalls has the socially

connected teammate highlighted

synthesize your colleagues points of

view to enhance your approach

and be sure to credit your teammates

contributions

just as you would prepare for a debate

by thinking of arguments they’ll be used

against you

use that same mode of thinking here this

will make your

initial idea and its implementation much

stronger

step five the final step but the longest

step

socialize and continuously iterate on

the idea

this part is why it’s so important to go

with an idea you’re passionate about

you will need to constantly

re-underwrite your idea

it will take a lot of energy and effort

from you you will need to keep enhancing

the idea with additional perspectives

defend it and shepherd it through

implementation

but i think it’s worth the effort i’m

absolutely convinced that everybody has

a perspective worth contributing

and i hope these steps can help you

bring forward your unique perspectives

to change things for the better in

technology and beyond

this crisis as terrible as it’s been is

also providing a window of opportunity

to rethink technology and its role in

society

new perspectives will be urgently needed

to solve the issues that have been

revealed and the ones yet to come

up until now the monitoring technology

has been mainly to move fast and break

things

but i think we’re ready for the next

frontier to move fast and fix things

i’m ready to be part of that and i hope

you are too

thank you for your time today

[Music]

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