8: Perspectives and Possibilities: Aligning for Social Change

We are in the midst of urgent social change. I have spent the last 20 years as a cross-cultural consultant, studying how the various perspectives of culturally diverse teams influence how we get things done and how we collaborate with those who are different from us. Looking at current social movements, I find myself less concerned with opposing perspectives than with the lack of alignment within “causes,” and the impact this has on their effectiveness. Within a “cause” we often assume that we are all moving in the same direction for the same reason. What I have found, however, is that our alignments are often fragmented. I believe that too much focus has been placed on the people “not like us” in social change. To achieve real change, we need to have better systems to ensure internal alignment within groups that are all working toward the same change – perhaps employing different perspectives, priorities, and cultural lenses in doing so.