When I worked in the TV industry out in Hollywood earlier in my career—first in comedy program development at Disney, and then in drama program development at CBS—it was interesting to observe the process by which an idea for a TV pilot eventually became a TV series (if the originators were incredibly lucky, considering the odds were about a thousand to one).
The process producers used when trying to develop an idea for a show went as follows:
First, the producers would sit around coming up with numerous possible concepts—as many as they could—after which they would need to narrow the list to the best ideas. Sometimes they would take various elements of the different ideas (that is, storylines, or characters) and combine them together to come up with a new and better idea. They would then assess the concepts to determine how good the ideas were and if they were worthy of developing further.
In the course of doing so, they had to make sure that the ideas were original and could be pitched as something new that TV viewers hadn’t seen a million times before. Some of these ideas involved taking an idea that already existed and putting a new spin on it; others involved coming up with a brand-new idea that, perhaps, hadn’t ever been done before; and other times—most risky of all—someone would pitch an idea that could, potentially, reinvent the industry.
In a nutshell, I just walked you through the following ten different types of visual thinking:
1. Divergent Thinking (expansion)
2. Convergent Thinking (contraction)
3. Integrative Thinking (connection/synthesis)
4. Analytical Thinking (dissection)
3. Critical Thinking (interpretation)
4. Creative Thinking (new/original ideas)
5. Innovative Thinking (new/original applications)
6. Evolutionary Thinking (progressive)
7. Revolutionary Thinking (ground-breaking)
8. Paradigm-shifting Thinking (radically new point of view)
What distinguishes these as visual thinking techniques is that at each stage of the process, the developers would need to envision what the show would look like in terms of the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. They would need to create and develop the characters, often with preliminary suggestions for the cast (Who); come up with a plot (What); determine the time (When) and place (Where) in which the show would be set; figure out the storyline (Why); and the type of production (How).
In order to do this, they would need to picture what the show would look and feel like in their own mind’s eye, and then try to communicate their vision to others in such a way that everyone else could “see” it in their mind’s eye as well.
As for how the Ten Types of Visual Thinking work, let’s take a closer look [Note: The Ten Types of Thinking is not a linear, sequential process even though I am describing the different types, in order, for explanatory purposes.]:
1. Divergent Thinking (expansion): Starting with the seed of an idea, with this type of thinking the goal is to expand on the initial idea to come up with as many different ideas as possible while suspending criticism or judgment. This type of thinking is often called Green Light Thinking, Green Hat Thinking, or ideation. As ideation guru Bryan Mattimore (author of Idea Stormers, and 21 Days to a Big Idea) would tell us, idea generation is all about leveraging external stimuli to serve as a catalyst for new ideas.
2. Convergent Thinking (contraction): Next, you take all the various ideas that you came up with and narrow them to the best ideas, often by using some of the other types of thinking on the list.
3. Integrative Thinking (connection/synthesis): With this type of thinking you come up with brand-new ideas by combining some of the best elements of multiple ideas. This could be described as two plus two equals five…or ten.
4. Analytical Thinking (dissection): This is about (for lack of a better metaphor) “cutting open” an idea, as you would a frog in a high school biology class to explore its inner workings (something that I needed to run out of the room during, before I got sick to my stomach; but I digress).
5. Critical Thinking (interpretation): This type of thinking is personal and subjective. It’s about expressing our biased opinions based on the information at hand combined with our own personal experiences.
6. Creative Thinking (new/original ideas): This type of thinking is about putting on our metaphorical thinking hats to come up with new, original ideas.
7. Innovative Thinking (new/original applications): This type of thinking is about taking the creative ideas that were generated and exploring real-world applications. While many people use the terms “creativity” and “innovation” interchangeably, I love this definition from the book Leading Innovation by Brian McDermott and Gerry Sexton: “Innovation is the value-added application of a creative idea.” In other words, you can come up with a million creative ideas, but it’s not officially an innovation until you implement it and it adds value.
8. Evolutionary Thinking (progressive): This type of thinking involves building on something that already exists. A slow and incremental progression.
9. Revolutionary Thinking (ground-breaking): This type of thinking involves coming up with something completely new.
10. Paradigm-shifting Thinking (radically new point of view) And, lastly, this type of thinking involves coming up with something so new and different that it radically changes the game, creates a new set of rules, and opens an entirely new world of possibilities.
Einstein was once quoted as having said, “You can’t solve problems using the same kind of thinking you used when you created them.”
Knowing that there are different types of thinking—ten, in fact—that you can employ at different times and in different situations, enables you to think, generate ideas, analyze situations, solve problems, and make decisions in a whole new and exciting way.
In Review
The Big Lesson: Knowing that there are different types of thinking that you can use opens a world of possibilities.
The Big Question: Which of the ten types of thinking do you tend to use? And which ones might help you to be an even more effective visual thinker in the future?
Your Big Insight:
Your Big Action: