TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- During a staff meeting at my last base, the wing commander made a statement that made me pause.  He said that all of us are handicapped. 

He explained that as a male, he is handicapped in not having a female perspective.  As an officer, he does not have the enlisted perspective.  It made me wonder, what are my handicaps or biases?  How do I overcome them, particularly as a commander of more than 400 people? The Air Force partly addresses this by requiring every Airman to complete the culture general course.  According to its opening line, "The Air Force is committed to training Airmen to be cross-culturally competent."

Wikipedia defines "cultural competence" as "an ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds."  According to the Air Force Culture and Language Center, Cross-Cultural Competence is "the ability to quickly and accurately comprehend cultural information, then appropriately and effectively act, in order to achieve a desired, positive result in a culturally complex environment." The center asserts that we can become cross-culturally competent Airmen by honing the following skills: perspective taking, cultural analysis and impression management. I would like to focus on perspective taking.

Each of us has life experiences, points of references. We grew up in different families.  Perhaps we lived in another country or traveled extensively.  Our upbringing shapes what we think about and how we think.  As a result, we have developed our own lens through which we view the world.

So, how can perspective taking help me overcome my handicaps?  First, I need to acknowledge that many perspectives exist.  Mine is not the only one, nor is mine the "correct" one.  The next step - and I would argue the most important - is to take that perspective into account when making decisions and interacting with others.  Appreciate the diversity of viewpoints.

One of my flight commanders has successfully adopted AFI 1-2's Execute the Mission, Lead People, Manage Resources and Improve the Unit to organize his flight-level meeting.  He suggested that I adopt his format for the squadron meeting.  However, I have five other flight commanders with different focuses, different leadership styles, different perspectives.  I want to encourage their differences and allow them to present information as they see fit, so I haven't standardized the format and it works out fine.

In general, I've found that the best ideas don't usually come from me.  Oftentimes, they come from someone else, and sometimes they come about by meshing different ideas together.  That happens because of perspective taking.