Perspective Blog #2

A major part of society and how we view one one another is all based off our perspective of something. A perspective can go a long way down the road. Everybody is unique and their own train of thought and how they view the world. So while reading chapter six on the topic of perspective, it was really intriguing to me and I was interested in reading it. A quote that stands out to me from the text is, “Another lesson we can take from this careful analysis of identity and perception is that we must respect our (and other’s) cultural points of view when we deliver public messages” (Pg 116). This is a very valuable teaching point especially with students or people new to the business world. Yes we all have our own thoughts on situations and other things but you never want to say something that could be disrespectful to someone else. You never know who you may be talking to and never want to leave a bad taste of yourself in somebody else’s mouth.

    An example that the book brings up, if you are a part of a marginalized group, it is okay for you to speak on that problem because you are going through it. Like if somebody suffers from Dyslexia, they can talk about the struggles of it. But if somebody who doesn’t have that problem and says something like it’s not that bad, it is not okay for them to say that because they’ve never had to deal with it and don’t know much about living with it. Obviously the more bigger cases that this gets brought up in is when people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds talk about one another. A white man can’t say it’s easier to be black than white because for one, all of the discrimination colored people get and the history between white and black people, and secondly they know nothing of that culture and never lived with it. This might ruin relationships or just cause problems when you’re talking to your friends or people you know, but if you’re in a business you must always watch what you say.

    Someone can be extremely qualified for the job, intelligent, all of that. Yet if he says something from his perspective without taking into the account of the other people’s perspective in the room, that may get him in hot water and could affect his job. This is a very controversial thing going on because now the world is more sensitive on what you think and how you think about certain subjects i.e. race, gender, guns, Trump and many other things. So always think about what you say before you say it and watch who say it around because there could be a lot of problems if you are careless with your words.