Nearly everyone inside the station shares a desire for the station to succeed, and to make a real difference in the community it serves. Because everyone sees things from their own unique perspective, they often disagree on what "success" is, as well as the direction the station needs to move to achieve that success.

There is a parallel in the story of "Four blind men and an elephant." Each of the men has an impression of an elephant that is limited to their own point of view. If you ask them what an elephant is, one says, "It is tall and round, like a tree;" another says, "No, an elephant is very broad, like a wall;" and another says, "No it isn't, it's long and thin, like a snake;" and so on. From their own points of view, everyone is accurate. If they had been able to see the entire elephant, they would immediately understand why the others had very different experiences.

Finding an accurate perspective on the internal situation at the station requires getting past any one point of view (including your own) to see a picture of the station which includes everyone's individual point of view.

Once people see the whole picture, they can see how their efforts relate to the efforts of others. They are much more likely to align themselves with a larger purpose for the station when that purpose includes and validates their personal point of view.

To reach the audience the same principles apply. To understand how the station looks, from the viewers' perspective, you need to see the market clearly, without the point of view of the station or the researchers to color the results. Unfortunately, this is a lot tougher than it sounds.

Most traditional research is done from inside one or more points of view, and is usually designed to prove positions right or wrong. People are often asked to agree or disagree with selected ideas, or to choose from a list of pre-conceived possibilities. This may tell you which of the options is statistically the least objectionable, but it allows no room to discover options which lie outside the point of view of the people who set up the research.

To get people involved in a marketing project, either inside or outside the station, you first need some perspective on the entire situation. To do that, you must be willing to get outside your own personal point of view, and see the situation from every perspective.