This year, I have the good fortune to spend the holidays in Budapest, Hungary with my husband's family.  Many I am meeting for the first time, some I have met before, but in my home country.  It has been quite a wonderful experience meeting everyone here, talking with them (although my Hungarian is non-existent - they are being very gracious and speaking Engligh).

Of the topics of discussion, I find myself most intrigued by the different perspectives my husband's relatives have on how businesses are run in the US.  They ask very interesting, and might I even say, difficult questions that I don't quite know how to answer.  For example, my husband's cousin grew up in Hungary always hearing how "efficient" businesses in the US are.  For example, my husband's cousin shared with me how he had been taught that everything in the US is so efficient.  Then he traveled  to Chicago and found that he had to go through several (to him) extra steps to be able to make an international call from his hotel room.  This story and others got me thinking about different perspectives on life, business, and technology.

Following the train of thought in Neil Jensen's "Some Assembly Required" blog from yesterday, the importance of planning and change management being included in any Talent Management initiative (whether the initiative includes technology or not) cannot be understated.  To be truly effective, the planning and change management must include as many different perspectives as possible to ensure that the initiative is as widely accepted and adopted as possible.  Efficiency may be one perspective (efficient according to whom?).  Effectiveness may be another perspective.  User-friendliness yet another.  I am speaking to stakeholder management, yes, though really, gathering multiple perspectives goes beyond that.  Human beings are multi-faceted, and talent management initiatives - since they deal primarily with the human element of business - must be, as well.

Back to my husband's relatives and our conversations about differences in culture, life, and business between Hungary and in the United States.  The take-away I have from all these family gatherings (besides a very full belly and a very merry heart) is that different perspectives are not good or bad, just different.  And it is the differences that provide for much richer, more satisfying, infinitely greater value-adding, and valuable experiences.