It's All in the Perspective

By: Caitlin Charles

Each Friday during this past semester, the LACD team has gotten together for a weekly meeting to discuss our progress as an office.  We often begin these meetings with a short professional lesson from our Director Lisa Snodgrass, and recently we have been discussing the topic of differences in perspectives.  For example, how differing generations in a work place can have opposing perspectives on a certain protocol. While neither one of these may be right or wrong, we have to be able to acknowledge the alternant points of view from our own.
This lesson came into play for me recently as the LACD team hosted a spring version of the Networking Happy Hour event from this past fall with myself as the project manager.  Knowing the high numbers in attendance from the fall event, I had created high expectations for myself and for the outcome of the spring Networking Happy Hour.  After what seemed like a rough beginning to my plans, I was very happy to have some wonderful local professionals participating in our event, and was ready for the evening.  Unfortunately, when the night came, and the time began to pass, I noticed that not very many students were arriving to network with the professionals.  There are many reasons I have come up with in my head as to why this might have been the case, but no matter the excuse, I became very disappointed that there were very few student attendees.
What I came to realize in the days after the event, was a product of the lesson we had learned a couple of weeks earlier.  While my battle of perspective was not and issue of generation gaps like our example, but rather one of my own personal expectations versus reality, the moral of our lesson still applied.  While I was disappointed in the turnout because of the low numbers, I had not yet analyzed the success of the event from any other perspective.  What I came to notice was that while there were a small number of people mingling in the Beering Lobby, this detail allowed the event to feel very intimate and friendly.  The business professionals, LACD team members, and few students were able to really engage with one another and take on wonderful conversations throughout the night.  So, while there weren't hundreds of students rushing to meet with all of our networking professionals, we were able to really appreciate each and every one of our conversations during the evening and enjoy our time together.  I now understand that taking on a new perspective, or simply appreciating one that is not typically your own, can truly enlighten your view on a subject.