Symphony is the capacity to synthesise rather than to analyse, to see the spaces in between, to connect the dots. It’s to find perspective and relationships, often beyond language – allowing us to shift between domains. It’s the way we “hear” the whole orchestra, not just the oboe.
When I was 17, I hesitantly signed up for engineering rather than art. Before this, I had been split down the middle. Since then, in both work and broader life, I’ve occasionally clawed around mentally at this unknown concept or “feeling…”
This feeling is a desire or joy even of trying to fumble around and match things visually, mechanically or otherwise from one area into another. An “inter-relatedness” in a way, between different domains or fields, for example, between art and engineering.
In his book “A Whole New Mind,” Dan Pink introduces 6 right brain dominant characteristics that are valuable in the new “conceptual age.” As you may guess, this includes attributes such as design, story, empathy, play, meaning and “symphony.”
Well, I must have missed this book when it came out, as “symphony,” I think, is a name for the concept that I had been clawing at. It turns out it’s also trainable and of increasing value as the culture shifts. As Pink describes: “Visual artists in particular are good at seeing how the pieces come together.”
According to Pink, symphonic thinking includes three main areas or “types:”
Boundary Crosser
-
Expertise in multiple spheres, they find joy in the rich variety of human experience
-
Can lead to creativity (crossing the boundaries of domains)
-
“Perspective is more important than IQ”
Inventor
-
Combinations of different ideas/tech
-
Reassembly – break things apart, rebuild, imagine
Metaphor Maker
-
Understand one thing in terms of something else
-
Whole minded ability
-
“Imaginative rationality”
The shift for me was not just finding this cool word, but seeing that we can train this explicitly, rather than it being something that just pops up unannounced. One way is through drawing – where we come back to understanding relationships.
Action Item
This one is simple: grab your favourite pen, pick something in front of you, and draw it. Set a 10 minute time cap if you like – you can use a “negative space approach” if you prefer, but I don’t feel it’s essential. Try to notice the spatial relationships rather than naming the “thing” itself.
(some headphones were near me today..)
