Startup Guides > Leading With Perspective

As a business owner or startup entrepreneur, you are responsible for building an effective team and enabling your employees to do their best work. To do that well, you need to have perspective, which is the ability to create a point-of-view based on imagining yourself in another's shoes.

Awareness about ourselves and others is difficult to gain. We naturally pay more attention to people who are above us in the social hierarchy, so those at the top have to be aware of that bias in order to overcome it.

No matter your current level of perspective, your skills can improve with practice. Try out these 3 ways to get started and gain more perspective as a leader:

1) Record and review your behavior.

To gain insight about others' reactions to your behavior, observe yourself in a group setting. Try recording a meeting and listening to it afterward.


2) Stop and listen.

Understanding how each employee differs is a matter of noticing their actions and reactions to help you infer their thoughts or feelings. At your next meeting, stand in the background or sit quietly and just observe the dynamics amongst the other team members.

3) Ask a co-worker.

If you struggle with understanding different perspectives, find a trustworthy colleague who can be your eyes and ears in the company. That person can help you understand others and give you honest feedback about your own behavior.

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