In a private Optimize Your Brain cohort, (doing our signature program for the C-suite executives of one company) there was a new hiree, Vicky, the CTO (Chief Technology Officer), who really struggled with seeing the person's perspective.
She came in wanting to change up working systems, struggled to understand why a different way may be just as good or better, and it was really causing quite a bit of drama among her peers.
Now Vicky had an amazing personality and had a lot of experience, so it was fun to work with her.
It took time, but by the end of the 90 days, everyone on the team could see a difference and Vicky felt she found her place.

While you are doing any task, you (without even realizing it!) are using your 28 thinking skills.

When the thinking skills you need to use are strong, doing the task happens easily.
If the thinking skill you need to use is weak, doing the task will be a challenge.

The struggle that Vicky had, came from a weak thinking skill of orientation in space.

If you’re familiar with the 28 thinking skills, you’re probably surprised I didn’t say Vicky struggled with the thinking skill of considering another person’s perspective. Because that’s a thinking skill in itself!

Although she struggled with considering another person's perspective, the foundational skill of seeing another person’s perspective is orientation in space.

You see, while we can improve any of the 28 thinking skills at any time, many of them build upon another.
If the thinking skill you’re trying to work on has another thinking skill getting in the way, you’ll want to start with the thinking skill that’s getting in the way first. This way when you go to the thinking skill you really want to improve, it happens smoothly.

Fun fact: Often the thinking skill that’s getting in the way is actually the real problem and there’s no longer an issue with the thinking skill you thought was the problem.

In Vickey’s case, the thinking skill most people thought she needed to work on was seeing another person’s perspective. But actually, what was causing the challenges was her weak thinking skill of orientation in space.

Orientation is space is a broad thinking skill that covers, rights/lefts, directions, how much space an item takes up, and more.

I know you’re curious on how those are connected, so let me explain.

Do you know your right hand and left hand? Yes. Good.
Now what happens if I’m sitting across the table from you, do you know which is my right hand and which is left?
Mentally you’ll have to sit in my position to be able to answer the question or else you’ll end up saying my left hand is the right.

What did you just do there?
You went into MY shoes to give the answer.
You considered my perspective to give the answer.

Understanding the positions and directions of another person is the first step to being able to consider their perspective. You need to see where they are standing, and where they are coming from to understand why they came to the conclusion.
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One of my absolute favorite ways to improve this area of orientation in space is to play the game, Right Turn, Left Turn.
In the game, you need to figure out where you’ll end up based on the directions of the police officers each standing in different positions.
You constantly need to stand in the police officers' shoes and to figure out which direction to take.
I love this game ‘cuz it’s fast paced, gets you thinking and doesn’t take long.
It's a great game to play with young children while adults have a challenge with it too.
When you're searching for it online, google, Right Turn, Left Turn game so it comes up.


Another version of this game, is simply going to a park or busy lot and every person you see, mentally saying, which is their right/left hand.
Remember, people will be standing in different directions, and you’ll need to go into their shoes to see which side is their right/left.


If you’re feeling comfortable with this, take it to another level by standing in one place and giving directions to any destinations.
Just say the directions out loud.
Then give directions to the same destination but from a different starting point.
This too, requires you to think of the other person and where they are coming from in order to give accurate directions.