Getting your Piece of the PIE

Posted on November 12, 2024 Updated on December 7, 2025

Whether you are selling, consulting, or managing, there is a foundational approach that has consistently helped me succeed. I call it PIE – an acronym that stands for Perspective, Insight, and Experience. When applied effectively, these three elements provide a robust framework for solving problems, winning clients, and leading teams to remarkable outcomes.

Over the years, I’ve taught this methodology to my teams, and it’s been a critical driver of their success. While I usually reserve it for a small circle, I believe it’s time to share it more broadly.

As an aside, years ago, I wrote a post about some of the negative aspects of the “reckless” application of PIE.

Perspective – Broaden Your View to Stand Out:

To truly differentiate yourself in any field, you need to develop a broad and informed perspective. This involves understanding the larger environment in which you operate: the market, competitive landscape, customer needs, technological advances, and regulatory shifts. A dynamic perspective evolves as you gain new experiences and encounter different approaches to solving similar problems with other businesses or in other industries.

This requires a broad understanding of the environment, market, competitive landscape, legal and technological changes, and more. It also grows and changes as you experience new and different things—especially when different approaches to similar problems are taken. It is how you start to stand out in the eyes of your prospects, customers, and team.

Earlier in my career, I taught technical courses. Two or three people usually stood out. At least one wanted to prove they were better and smarter, and usually, one discussed strange approaches to solving problems. When digging into those strange approaches, you would often identify something creative and brilliant coming from a different perspective on the problem. Curiosity and a desire to improve drive innovation.

In business, perspective becomes your differentiator. When you can see things from a broader, more holistic viewpoint, you position yourself as someone who can offer more than just solutions—you offer foresight, adaptability, and creativity. You become the lighthouse that guides your clients around tricky situations and to a better destination.

How to Apply This:

• Stay informed about industry trends, not just within your niche but across related sectors.
• Engage with diverse thinkers, challenge your assumptions, and be open to unconventional ideas.
• Regularly reassess your strategies in light of new information or shifts in the business environment.

Here is a post that discusses perspective as the starting point.

Insight – The Power of Seeing What Others Don’t:

Insight is one of the most valuable assets you can bring to any business interaction. Too often, people are trapped by existing tools, processes, and perceived constraints. Insight allows you to pierce through these limitations and identify opportunities for improvement that others miss.

Here’s where perspective plays a role in insight: the broader your view, the better your ability to generate actionable insights that can transform a business. My most successful deals and projects were not won because I followed the status quo—they were won because I brought fresh ideas to the table. By reframing the problem and presenting a path to a better solution, I created value that competitors cannot match.

How to Apply This:

• Question assumptions and typical approaches. Ask yourself, “Is this really the best way to solve the problem?”
• Look for inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and areas of waste in processes. These are often hidden opportunities for innovation.
• When engaging with clients or teams, offer insights that reframe their challenges and provide a path to improved outcomes by initially focusing on the “what” instead of the “how.”

Here’s a post that delves deeper into insightfulness.

Experience – The Foundation of Wisdom and Credibility:

Experience is the foundation that supports both perspective and insight. It’s the repository of lessons learned—both successes and failures—that shape your approach to problem-solving and innovation. The more varied and in-depth your experience, the better equipped you are to offer valuable insights and strategies.

Consulting, in particular, is a fertile ground for gaining diversified experiences. By working with multiple clients across industries, you gain exposure to a wide array of challenges and solutions. In sales, this experience translates into powerful stories that illustrate your ability to help clients achieve better outcomes. The more experience you accumulate, the more confident you’ll become in your ability to deliver meaningful results through transferable competence (taking skills and lessons learned from one domain and applying them to another).

How to Apply This:

• Reflect on your past experiences—what worked, what didn’t, and why. Use these lessons to guide future decisions.
• Build case studies from your experiences to demonstrate your expertise and credibility when engaging with clients or stakeholders.
• Continuously seek out new challenges that stretch your capabilities and expand your knowledge base.

As Albert Einstein wisely said, “The only source of knowledge is experience. You need experience to gain wisdom.” But it’s not just about accumulating experiences—it’s about leveraging them. Your past successes build confidence in your abilities, while your failures provide invaluable lessons that help you avoid costly mistakes in the future.