Hi, my name is Tim; I’ve lived in five countries, I love pizza, and I love working with Excel.
No that’s not a joke; if I were bent on social-suicide, I could probably write a poem about Excel.
Columns of digits bending across the sheet… Endless lines defining the limits of infinity…formulas connecting inputs… inputs providing outputs… outputs no more than mere numbers flowing back into the endless waves of turbulent data….No. Writing a poem about Excel is rather lame; in fact, it’s something that 99% of the world’s population would look down upon, including myself. It takes an oddly creative nerd to come up with something abstract about a software so inherently bland.
I also enjoy photography; I can spend hours walking around with my camera, trying to find beauty in the mundane. In fact, I can get quite creative playing with light, shutter speeds, apertures, ISO’s, WB’s, triggers, bounce flashes, and reflectors.
One of my favorites, I love it because it can be flipped upside down while remaining mostly unchanged.
What’s the point? I think it is possible to be both a convergent and a divergent thinker. Or as Martin would say in The Design of Business, it is possible for a person to be good at both exploration and exploitation. For me it is difficult to decide on which type of thinking suits me most.
1. I am a finance student, I need: organization, structure, strategic thinking, analysis, numbers, some more numbers, and spreadsheets. I value accuracy, precision and evidence-based conclusions. I should be a convergent thinker.
2. I am a freelance photographer, I’m writing a novel, and I’m generally a creative outgoing person. I work well with other people, I look for unique ways around problems, and I need blank sheets of paper for everything (notes, brainstorming, doodling). I should be a divergent thinker.
Evidently, I feel there is no ‘black and white’ answer to the question: what kind of a thinker are you? Personally, organization is arguably the most important aspect to my thinking process. My notes are ridiculously organized. My laptop is permanently covered with ‘To Do’ sticky notes (mind you, bold and underlined implies urgent, bold implies urgent within 2 days, underlined implies done) and my Google Calendar is filled in to the minute.
My thinking process starts with an organized overview, and hence proceeds with analysis. But once the analysis is complete, I do in fact start displaying divergent thinking skills. I can include creativity and I often use the ‘how will this change in the future” approach. As mentioned in Martin’s article, it is imperative for a business, like an individual, not to solely depend on either analysis or intuitive thinking; a mix is essential. Therefore, I feel that I am ready to develop my design thinking abilities. I might not have a perfect combination of skills as of yet, but with practice I will be able to maximize my output by making use of design thinking. Businesses need to combine analytical thinking with innovative intuitive thinking, but so do the employees of the future.
Steve Rio, the CEO of BriteWeb, told me today that he believed ‘growth will become obsolete’. He thinks businesses will not be able to grow by the traditional standards for much longer; he talked about the call for innovation, the rapidly changing business environment, and the need for companies to switch their attitudes towards creative problem solving. I agree with Steve, once I graduate, I will need to think outside the box, or re-define the concept of ‘a box’ altogether.
It’s quite simple: design thinking requires an open-mind. I’m ready to open this mind.
Great reflection Tim. You seem to be very self-aware of your two opposing minds which can often work together successfully in concert. I agree, it has to be a mix. Having and using one approach only would be limiting. How do you go about switching modes? What techniques do you use for that?
If you ask a group of 4-yr-olds who can sing or draw, they would all answer in the afamriftive to both. As children we all are naturally creative and express that creativity in any number of ingenius ways. It is later in life that we begin to declare ourselves and each other uncreative. It is possible to reawaken the creative energy in most anyone. But it takes nurturing effort and time, things not in great supply in most corporate environments.As for hiring someone who is stronger in creative thinking vs. critical thinking skills, it would depend on the needs of my team. Which of the two skills am I in most need of at the time? I want a team that has a balance of strong creative and critical thinkers that are working together to develop exceptional products and services to meet our customers needs.