Perspective is everything.

There’s an old story about two shoe salesmen.
They’re sent by their companies to Africa to scout the market.
One man calls his company and requests the first flight home.
“We can’t sell shoes here,” he explains, dejectedly. “No one wears them.”
The other salesman excitedly calls his home office.
“Awesome opportunity! No one here wears shoes!”
That little tale is typically told to make a motivational point.
That attitude is everything!
Unfortunately, it’s not.
Not in today’s supersaturated, modern marketplace.
Today, perspective is everything.
Here’s why.
100 years ago, awareness was enough to drive success.
People craved anything new.
Modern conveniences, like washing machines and air conditioners.
If you made people aware, they gobbled them up.
50 years later, understanding drove decision-making.
Let people know that your product never breaks down, and sales soared.
And now what, when price and quality are table stakes?
When a Google search for anything returns thousands of options?
Of course, we still need awareness, understanding and optimism.
But they follow perspective.
Insights are what drive success today.
Insights were the fuel that powered Google, Apple, Amazon and others.
And they’re the keys that will unlock your success as well.
The computer scientist Alan Kay said, “A change of perspective is worth 80 IQ points.”
Success doesn’t come to the smartest, nor to the most optimistic.
It comes to those with the right perspective for our times.