Perspective Taking
-
Derek Cabrera, PhD
Derek Cabrera (PhD, Cornell) is an internationally known systems scientist and serves on the faculty of Cornell University where he teaches systems thinking, systems leadership, and systems mapping and is Program Director for the Graduate Certification Program in Systems Thinking, Modeling, and Leadership (STML). He is a senior scientist at Cabrera Research Lab. He’s authored 8 books including, Systems Thinking Made Simple and Flock Not Clock.
More posts by Derek Cabrera, PhD
Derek Cabrera, PhD

Change our perspective and the distinctions we make change, too. And of course, the part-whole organization and the relationships we see can change as well. Every perspective has a point (a looker) and a view (the looked at). This is important because if you change the point (who or what is looking) or the view (who or what is being looked at) the perspective changes. Most importantly, remember that a perspective doesn't have to have eyes--we often use ideas or things as points-of-view (example: the economy from the perspective of drugs). Remember that even if no perspective is identified, there is always a perspective.
From the book: Cabrera, D and Cabrera L. 2015. Systems Thinking Made Simple Odyssean.