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Can you share a time when someone’s background or perspective helped you see a problem or solution differently ?

Can you share a time when someone’s background or perspective helped you see a problem or solution differently?

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PwC’s Answer

I had a client who was working on an investment in Pakistan. Every week we had calls at 7:30 or 8:00 am to catch up with the team but the work was not progressing. Speaking with the local team directly helped me undestand that they have religious holidays happening during this period that were slowing things down. I was not aware of how both private sector and government agencies are affected by this aspect of culture/religion.
In assessing the risks of fraud in revenue - schemes shared that I had not really thought was more than remote - challenged me to consider as a real possibility.
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PwC’s Answer

As an AC BSAS member, I work closely with colleagues from the US and India. Each of us sees the world differently because of our cultures and ways of solving problems, and recognizing that is key to our daily work. When two different perspectives collide, it doesn’t create conflict—it sparks possibilities. That collision of worlds and ideas often leads to innovative solutions. By combining our differences, we create outcomes that are far more groundbreaking than what any of us could achieve alone.
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While working on a RFP the pursuit team had a very western centric view while we were selling and going to work with APAC client - it became quickly clear our team was not aware of the culture and what would resonate BUT we were able to see a few different angles and quickly adapt - we did win the work.
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- Living overseas for a few years as well as working with colleagues around the world, I have learned to watch for subtle cultural queues vs making assumptions. For example, in Switzerland, when you enter a room for a meeting, you walk around and shake hands with everyone vs sitting down first and doing intros.

- I use storytelling on a daily basis when working with my team members. It’s critical for them to understand my journey and how I arrive at the perspectives I am sharing. Creating this relationship between your guidance and your personal experience helps to inspire those around you.

- Within the Advisory Factory we continue to push ourselves to drive better human alignment with agent outputs. As part of this, our Factory team created a patent pending technology that analyzes and clusters human feedback to improve agent outputs over time to ensure those outputs better align with human expectations.
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High stakes deliverable on the line, I was trying to complete my tasks on my own while failing to realize the whole group wouldn't complete the overall goal. My manager's perspective was invaluable, "we all cross the finish line together - some might not like it, but some definitely need it". I didn't understand the softness on their perspective right away, but over time, I realized the team this moment as the "big bang" of our team culture - we realized we all had our backs when needed, and that we all benefited from celebrating the wrap-up. That changed my view on how team moments are made - the most important ones are unscripted!
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Caitlyn’s Answer

Growing up in Mississippi, I was surrounded by people with very different life experiences and perspectives, which taught me early on the importance of listening and empathizing before jumping to conclusions. One example from work was when I was collaborating with colleagues across different regions and time zones. My initial instinct was to optimize for efficiency and move quickly, but a teammate from a different cultural background helped me realize that success wasn’t just about speed, it was also about building trust, giving space for diverse communication styles, and creating alignment. Their perspective shifted how I approached the project: I slowed down to ensure we created shared understanding, and in the end, that extra investment made the solution far more scalable and widely adopted.
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Living overseas for a few years as well as working with colleagues around the world, I have learned to watch for subtle cultural queues vs making assumptions. For example, in Switzerland, when you enter a room for a meeting, you walk around and shake hands with everyone vs sitting down first and doing intros.
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