Step 4: 2. People Skills

1. Positions and Opportunities > 2. Gaining Perspective > 2. People Skills

Which of the following areas describes most problems with getting information from people?

1. I need to work on my personal interactions.
   2.3 Personal Interactions

   2.3 Personal Interactions

   "Internal and external events force people to move." Sun Tzu's The Art of War 13:1:6
   

   Situation: 

   In a competitive environment, plans constantly collide resulting in situations that no one plans. The encounters are like molecules of gas bumping off of each other. As a gas is heated, its molecules become more energetic, bouncing off of each other more frequently. The same is true of positions in a competitive environment. As we put energy into our moves, our contacts with others becomes more and more frequent. In a more connected society (see Networked World), more and more types of interactions are possible over greater distance at less cost. People are frustrated because all these random events seem to continually knock them off course, but that is the nature of the environment.

2. I need to work on my network of personal connections.
   2.4 Contact Networks

   2.4 Contact Networks

   "You need all five types of spies.
   No one must discover your methods.
   You will then be able to put together a true picture.
   This is the commander's most valuable resource." Sun Tzu's The Art of War 13:2:7-11
   

   Situation: 

   No matter how well connected with think we are, the networks of contacts that we naturally develop in our lives are inherently limited. Natural contact networks are myopic, consisting of people who largely shared the same points of view. This occurs because we tend to keep in contact with people who are like ourselves. Our contacts tend to be the same age, have the same interests and opinions, live in the same areas, and, more and more often, work in the same industry if not company as we do. We cannot develop a broader perspective from talking to people who share the greater part of our perspective.