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A WH C L E N E V l M I F i D

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to Put together the the Symphony, as I cali this aptitude' is "bitiry rarher than to analyze; to see pieces. It.is the capacity to synthesize fields; to detect broad relationships between seemingly unrelated sometn^" rather ' to deliverlpecific answers; and to invent Patterns to pair' ::_1:ti:::'::::::: ;: ff; else thought ;;;;;;., Sym.hrng ,t"* by combining elements nobody in Chapter 2' I metaohorical' metalhorical' sense'As I explained -th;

; in a simultaneous'contexthat the right hemisphere oPerates i tsel f not w ir h a par r icular 'th player or the t . *"' -\-\^r,'-, -^ ,-..---.,-" the whole f61s51-ns1 $/1 the bassoon : I ,rrrr','\ ' .rr\,rU spruce but with #l['j'i"u 4, iC\lict first violinist but with che entjre orchestra' /dtfl' ' abiliry of composers and con, Symphonic thinking is a signature n*r't*d Ih.,'r* ? a diverse group of notes, inducrors, whose jobs involve corrailing .:' -

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SY M PHN Y O teerning wilh information, individual choices,and just plain sru'ff is putting a premium on this aPtitude in our personai lives as well' Modern life's glut of optiqns and stimuli can be so overwhelming that those with the ability to see the big picture-to sort out what really matters-have wel l -b eing. of one of the best ways ro understand and develop the aptitude Symphony is to learn how to draw-a skill that' as that self-portrait demonstrates,wasn't exactiy my forte'
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for the our craft, distilled to a single sentence that will be repeated "is largely about renext five days. l'Drawing," saysBrian Bomeisler, lationships." Bomeisler is my instructor. He'll be teaching me and six other C1nary students-a fa+ftmg group rhat inciudes a lavyer from the develIslands and a pharmacist fiom New Zealand-the techniques Brain' oped by Betry Edwards in Drawing 0n the Risht Side of the an acBomeisler comes to the job with considerablestreet cred. He's complished painter in New York. His works (and works-in-progress) class= adorn the walls of the sixth-floor soHo loft that will be our Betry room. He's'been teaching this coursefor twenty years.He',salso Edwards'sson., Like his mother, with whom he developed this'five-day workshop, "The naming of things is Bomeisler believesdrawing is abour seeing.
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My problem, Bomeisier tells me as he squincsat my artwork, is thai.I'm not drawing what I'm Seeing.I'm drawing "remembered symbols from childhood." To grasp what he means, turn back to page I29 and,if you can bear it, Iook at that self-portrait agdn. My iips don't really iook like rhar. Nobody's lips look like that. I've drawn a symbolfor lips-a symbol, as a matter of fact, that comes from childhood. Those penciled lips look a lot like the Magikist sign that used to beckon from I-94 when, as a kid, my family drove to visit my grandparents in Chicago. In a sense, I've merely written "lips" in modern hieroglyphics instead of truly seeingmy lips and recognizing how they relate to che totality of my face. Later that first day, Borneisler shows ris a Picassoline drawing and asks us to copy it. But before we begin, he tells us Eo turn Picasso's sketch upside down-so "you know nothing about what you're

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is doing' rhe mind is free ro seerelarionships and ro inregrarethose relationships a whole. inro In many ways,r;is i, .h",;;":r,.""*,r* how to dlayy-a5 well as the key to mastering the aptitude of Sym_ phony' For example;one of the reasons my serf-portrairrooks so srfangeis that the rerationships are skewed,In class,we seyensrudentslearn and,more important, we see*thaton a human face-thc discance from the cenrerline of che eyes," .h. b",;";;ffi;:, equal to rhe djstance from the cenrerline ofit".y.,,;;;"1;o the head.i drew my eyes ", much higher on the head than ,i"i ," realiry-and by botching thar "r. onerelationship, r've disrortedthe enrire picrure. Bomeisleris a sympatrretic teacher wirh the gentremannerof Mr. Rogers had Mr. Rogersdone time on paris,s,"u; ;;.';;;rr".".0 drawing exercise, gridesaround rre the room offering encouragemenr. "I'm hereto keepyour lefr hemisphere quiet,,,he rnurmurs.;". ;", he teachesus about negative ,nu.._rhu, is, the area between and around an image- Fre shows us the logo of Fed'x, like rhe one below.

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took

IJE MIN D A Y ' H OLT W ticed. We draw stools propped on tabies,the wrinkles on our hands, and the shadows that caressthe cornets of Bomeisler's studio' Throughout Bomeisler repeatshis mantra tbat "drawing is largeiy about relationships" that, when combined, create the whole..And so, in some sense,is this cor,rse.Al1 of su1 sxsrcises in relationships lead to the final afternoon, whett we must integrate our newly acquired understanding into a big picture-a second attempt at a self-portrait'

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our times? Mutti, Our jobs require multitasking. Our communities are multicultural. Our entertainment :is multimedia, \Zhile detailed today the top re-' knowledge ofa single area once guaranteed success,

dirin starkrv go wards to those -i::::_":::T::l:::""'apiomb j'boundary crossers'" They develop

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SYM PHO NY

proBoundary crossersare people like Andy Tuck, a'philosophy to fessorand pianist who applies the skills he honed in those fields such run his own management consuLting firm' They include people as Gloria \7hite-Hammond, a pastor and pediatrician in Boston; Todd Machover, who comPoses operas and builds high-tech mu si c equipm ent ; an d J h a n e .,Wh a tId o i s p a tte rn recogni ti on.Itry the to recognize patternbefore Barnes, whose expeftise in maetsedoes.'' anyone ah"*uri., inforrns her intricate '-^ -- - C AYC T PoLl AR D '

tMihalyicsikdesigns clotb,ing
szentmihalyi; the Universiry of Chicago psYchologist who

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wrote the classicbookFlou: Tbe and the Psychologyof hptinzat Experienceas well as Creariuity: Flow Psyc bology af Dis c o u e ry a n d l n a e n ti o n ,h a s s tu d i edthel i vesofcreatrve peopleandf oundt ha t..c re a ti v i ry g e n e ra l l y ' i n v o l vescrossi ngthe relationboundaries of domains."2 The most creative among us see pfemlum shios the rest of us never notice. Such ability is at a where specialized knowledge work can quickly become in l'*orld routinized work-and therefore be automated-or outsource&away 1'The next 10 years wiII require peopie Designer Clement Mok says, Ne totally to think and work across boundaries into aew zones tha:t have to different from their. areas of expertise' They will not only opportunicross rhose boundaries, but they will aiso have to identify ties and make connections berween them'"3 jobs to India wiil create For example, the offshoring of computer b-etween new demand for people who can manage the relationship wholethe coders in the East and the clients in the \7est' These in minded professionalsmust be literate in rrvo cultures, comfortable and sales both the hard science of computing and the soft science of

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ing deadiocks havebeenbrokenby peoplewho are not engineers ar all," says NicholasNegroponteoFMIT. "This is because v r 4'r r r ' r r r r r r J U LL' perspective is - :t"
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. " mukidisciplinary minds, and a broad spectrum of experiences."4 Boundary crossers reject either/or choicesand seek muitiple options and blended solutions. They lead hyphenated lives 6iled with hyphenated jobs and enlivened by hyphenated identities. (Fxample: Omar Vasow, aNairobi-born, African-American-Jewish entrepreneur , policy wonk-television analyst.) They help explain the growing ranks of college students with double rnajors-and the proliferarion of academj.c. departments that dub themselves "inrerdisciplinary. " Csikszentmihalyi has also uncovered a related. dimension of the boundary crosser's,talent:rhose who possess often elude traditional it gendei role stereotyping. In his research,he found that "when tests of

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T H E I N VEN TOR
In che l97Os, Hershey Food Corp. ran a series of goofy relevision commercials rhat inadverrently conrained a crucial lesson rn R-Directed Thinking. In the ads, a person walks along dreamily

while mnnchiog'a chocolate bar. Someone else, equally oblivious, strolls about while eating peanut burter. The two collide. :'Hey, you got peanut bucrer on my chocolare," the firsr person complains. g,ot chocolate on my peanut burteq" the other replies. lou Each then samples the resuks. To rheir surprise, they discover they've createda masterpiece."Reese's Peanut Burrer Cups," rhe announcer intones. "Two great tastesthat rasregreat together." R-Directed thinkers understand the logic of this confectionary fender-bender. They have an intuitive senseof whar I call the "Reese's "And

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Peanut Butter Cup Theory of Innovation": somerimes the most powerfrrl ideascomefrom simply combining rwo existever "F" thought to unite. Thke John Fabel, an avid cross-country skier. He loved the sport, but his backpack straps always
bruised his shouiders. One day on a trip to New York, he passed by the Brooklyn Bridge-and saw the solution to his problem. In an
"The key to successis to risk thinking unc onv ent ionaI o u g h t s .C o n v e n t i o n s i th the enemy of progress.As long as you've got sl.ightty more perceptionthan'the you could averagewrapped Loaf, inv ents om et hing . "
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act :gf what cognitive scientists Gilles Fouconnier and Mark Turner :'conceptuai cail blending," Fabel combined th-bstructur-eof a'suspen- ' sion bridge with the components of a traditionai backpack-and invented a new, easier-to-tote,and now popular;;ack called the Ecotrek. The ability to forge these kinds of inspired, inventive relation-

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ships is a function of the right side of our brains. Cognitive neuroscientists at Drexel and Northwestern universities have found that the flashesof insight that precede "Aha!" moments are accompanied by a large burst of neural activity in the brain's right hemisphere. How-

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^ -^^-:-^-:^, t ..Nt1 ,4 .li, ,.tfntlil' U ' i, flrr,t'rptu ' , n I il invsnsien-while outsourcing or automating much of the execrrtion. This requires those with the ability and fortitude to experiment with novel combinations:afld to rnake the many mistakes that inevitably , come with an irupiration-centered approach.Fortunately, despite what some might believe, all of us harbor this capacity to invent. Listen to Trevor Baylis, rhe British stuntman-rurned-inventor who invented a windup radio that can be used without batteries or electriciry: "Invention isn't some'impenetrabie branch of magic: anyone can have a go." Mosr irlventions and breakthroughs come from reassembiing existing ideas in new ways. Those willing to have a go at developing this symphonic ability wi[ flourish in the Conceptuai Age. .rr',""' *' Adt\J'.. lll!'i'i,r"l' n2lO -r,,Ldr* . nll)t f' \Ut trry ts**

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out ever, when we wo_Jk problems in a more methodical L-Directed "eurekacenter"remainsquiet.6our ability to this way, this ^criiute has o1f i right hemispherecapacity becomemore urgent aswe transition today,the journey from in)^V o,-,,of the Information Age. In business ' individuals and .,orr*rion to commodiry is so swift that successfi:l novation to commodiry is so swift that successful individuals and
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The callosum for assistance. right hemispherewill then cakn its partoer, pur the phrasein context, and explain that "lend rne your ears"' rI is a meraphor.The bossdoesn't really want you to puII a Van Gogh.

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S YM H ON Y P Metaphos-sfta1 is, understanding one thing in terms of something else-is anorher important element of Symphony. But like so

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many aspectsof R-Directed Thinking, it struggles against an undeservedreputation. "The \Testern tradition . . . has excluded metaphor from the domain of reason," writes the prominenr linguisr George Lakoff. Metaphor is often consideredornamentatien-1hs stuff ofpoets and other frilly sorts, flowery words designed to perfume the ordinary ot unpieasant. In fact, metaphor is central to reason-because, as Lakoff writes, "Human thought processes iargeiy metaphorical."T are In a complex world, mastery of metaphor-a whole-minded ability that sorne cognitive scientists have calied "imaginative rationaliry"-has become e'/er more valuable. Each morning, when we rise

from our Slumber and flick on the lights, we know we'll spend much of the day paddling through a torrent of data and information.

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Cerain kinds of sofrware can sorr rhese bits and offer giimpses into patterns. But only the human mind can think metaphorically and see relationships that computers could never detect Likewiie, in a time of abundance, when the largest rewards go to those who can devise novel and compelling creations, metaphormaking is vitaL For instance, Georges de Mestral--noticedhow b-urrs stuck to his dog's fi.u and, reasoning metaphoricaliy, came up with

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is enriche_d by metaphor," writes choreographer Twyla lreate Tharp. She encouragespeopie to boost their metaphor quotient, or "in che creativeprocess,MQ is as valuable as IQ."9 MQ, because Metaphorical rhinking is also important. because it heips us understand others. Thar's one reason that marketers are supplementing

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metaphorical minds of their customers.l0For instance, a method developed by Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman supplements polls and focus groups by asking subjects to bring in pictures that describe their feelings toward particuJ.ar goods and seryi6s5-and then to fashion those pictures into a collage. Through elicits the metaphors customers use to think

this technique,Zaltman

of products---coffee as an "engine," a security gizmo as a "companionable watchdog," and so on. But the benefits go'well.beyond the commerciai realm. Today,
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thanks to astonishing improvements in telecommunications, wider i t\ access travei, and increasinglife spans,we come into contact with to N\ t" a larger and more djverse set of people than anytrumans in history. .-\D, n t(rVl' " Metaphorical imagination essential forging empirthic connec$-Y)\ 1 1 Metaphorical imagination is essential in forging empZrthic connecW\ 16,

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"A large part of self-understanding," says Lakofr, "is the search for appropriate personal metaphors that make senseof our lives."lt The more we understand metaphor, the more we undersrand ourselves.

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SY M PH ON Y the long remembered separates

rors and composers desire-what from the quickly forgotten-is

the abiliry to marshal rheserelatioo-

rhe sum of its pans. ships into a whole whose magnificenceexceeds So it is with the high-ioncept aptitude of Symphony. The boundary crosser,the inventor, and the metaphor maker ali understand the importance of relationships: But the Conceptual Age also demands the relationships. This mera-ability abiiity ro grasp the relarionships butueen goes by many names-systems thinking, gestalt thinking, holistic thinking. I prefer to think of it simply as seeing the big picture. Seeing the big picture is fast becoming a kiiler app in bwiness. While knowle-dge workers of the past qzpically performed piecemeal assignments and.,spenttheir days tending their own patch of a larger or garden, such work is now moving overseas being reduced to instructions in powerfui software. As a result, what has become more specialisrscanvaluable is what fasccomputers and low-paid overseas not do nearly as well: integrating and imagining how the pieces fit rogether. This has become increasingly evident among entrepreneurs and other successfulbusinesspeoplb. For instance, one remarkable recent study found that self-made millionaires are four times more likely than the rest of the population Dyslexics struggle with L-Directed Thinking to be dyslexic.12'S7'hy? and the linear, sequential, alphabetic reasoning at its core. But as with a blinci person whu develops a more acute senseof hearing, a him to acquire outsized ahiiity dyslexic'sdifficulties in one arealead. in ochers.As Sally Sha)'witz, a Yale neuroscientisrand .specialistin dyslexia, writes, "Dyslexics think differently. They are intuitive excgl at probignr-solying, seeing the big picture, and simplifying. and ...

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-I' A .V t' H OLEi E WMIN D forced them to seethe big picture. Becauseoftheir difficulty analyzing the particulars, they became adept at recognizing the patterns. Michael Gerber, who has studied entrepreneurs of ail sorts, has reached similar conciusions: "All great entrepreneurs are Systems Thinkers. All who wish to become great entfepfeneufs need
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reasoning'f and more on the intuitive, contextual reasoning characteristic of Symphony. The shifting terrain is already prompting some archetypal L-Directed \Morkers to recast who they are and. whar they do. One example: Stefani Quane of Seattle,who cails,herselfa "holistic attorney," dedicated to taking care of your will, trust, and family matters by viewing them in context rather than isolatiop, and exam-

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relateto the entirety of your life. ining how your legal concerns this More and more employersare looking for people who possess muiaptitude. SidneyHarman is one of them. The eighrysomething companysayshe doesn't timillionaire CEO of a stereocomponents find it all that valuableto hire MBAs. instead,

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EY M PH ON Y I say, "Get me some Poets as managers." Poets are our original systems thinkers. They contemplate the world in which we live and feel obliged to interpret and give expression to it in a way that makes the reader undetstand how that world turns' Poers, those unheralded systemsthinkers, are out true digital thinkers. It is'from their midst that I believe we will draw tomorrow's new business leaders.16 Business and,work' of course, ate far irom the only places where has also seeing the big picture is helpfuI. This'aspect of Sympho.ny 'Iake the growing appeai of become cruciai for health and w-ell-being' with integrative medicine, which combines conventionai medicine aiternative and complementari/ therapies, and its cousin' holistic the parrneciicine, which aims to treat the whole person rather than not dericular disease.These movements-grounded in science but achieved pendent solely on sciencelsoften L-Directed approach-hays National mainstream recognition, including their own branch of the mechanisInstitutes of Health. They move beyond the reductionist' the words tic approach of conventicinal medicine toward one that' in *all aspectsof of one physicians' professional association, lntegrates emotional; well-being, including physical, environmental, mental' healing of spiritual and social health; thereby contributing to the ourselvesand our Pianet."iT as The capacity to see the big picture is perhaps most important by the rean antidote to the variety of psychic woes brought forth Many of us are markable prosperiry and plentitude of our times' ttt" pata\yzed crunched fo, .i*", deluged by information; -and !'f these modern weight of too many choices. The best prescription for bigmaladies may be to approach one's own life in a contextual' and picture f25[ien-1e distinguish between what really matters what m er ely annoy s .A s l ,Il d i s c u s s i n th e fi n a l c h apter,thi sabi l i tyro

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the week-'s of drawing'class' we aPp-roacir smali mirrors to the wall' crescendo. After lunch, we each tape our to draw our chairs about eight inches away and begin -We position warns us of the perils lurking our self-portraits once again' Bomeisler "\fe've used the mirror to prePare ourselves to in the looking glass. thoughts you've had about face the world. Clear your mind of any and the relationships," that and concenrrate on the shapes,rhe lights, ' iooks like on this particular he says. "You want to seewhat your-face rHe'- FINAL oav day in this Parricular Place'" ' lenses so I won't have to At iunch, I swap my glassesfor contact Given my performance on dtaw the shadows cast by my spectacles' I can get' I begin with my the first self-portrait, I'lI take any edge they are' where the eyes-reaily looking at them, seeing what shape begin' rcalizing that the colci ends and the whites of my eyeballs the sarne as the width of each width berween my ivio eyes is exactiy part because I me fits-in individual eye. My nose, thcr:gh, gives just seeing vrhat's plain on my face' keep tbinking of a nose instead of my self-portrait has a big I skip that part-and for the longest time, proboscises'\fhen I get empty spot in the center, a Venus de Milo of until I get it right !eto the mouth, I draw and redraw it nine times that Magikist sign' But cause the eady renditions keep looking iike I just erase the negative the shape of the head comes easiiy because spacearound it. begins to look To my.amazement' what emerges on the sketchpad al i ttl el i kemeonthatparti cul ardayi nthatpafti cul ar.p| ace . shoulder' and whisBomeisler checks in on my progress,touchesmy

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