Thursday, April 3, 2014

Erin Meyer — Are You a Holistic or a Specific Thinker?

A traditional tenet of Western philosophies and religions is that you can remove an item from its environment and analyze it separately. Cultural theorists call this specific thinking.
Chinese religions and philosophies, by contrast, have traditionally emphasized interdependencies and interconnectedness. The Ancient Chinese thought in a holistic way, believing that action always occurs in a field of forces. The terms yin and yang (literally “dark” and “light”), for example, describe how seemingly contrary forces are interdependent.
Here’s what one of my Chinese participants said after we’d discussed the fish and photo studies: “Chinese people think from macro to micro, whereas Western people think from micro to macro. For example, when writing an address, the Chinese write in sequence of province, city, district, block, gate number. Westerners do just the opposite. In the same way, Chinese put the surname first, whereas Westerners do it the other way around. And Chinese put the year before month and date.”
This affects the way business people view each other across the globe. As Bae Pak from the Korean motor company Kia told me: “When we work with Western colleagues, we are often taken aback by their tendency to make decisions without considering the impact on other business units, clients, and suppliers.”
Harvard Business Review — HBR Blog Network
Are You a Holistic or a Specific Thinker?
Erin Meyer
Here's a list of opposites that require integration in holistic thinking. Interestingly, it is bilingual and bicultural children of Eastern and Western parents that get this naturally, as was explained to me by a student of mine some years ago.

structural functional
static dynamic
analytic synthetic
essentialism existentialism
nature path
figure ground
individual whole
element system
isolated contextual
fixed flexible
angular curved
mechanism organism
expansion growth
ontic ontological
matter consciousness
ideological pragmatic
separate integrated
focal balanced
independent interdependent
kataphatic apophatic
scientific mystical
math music
rational non-rational
observation experience
perception sensibility
fact value
reason inspiration
logic intuition
head heart
external internal
masculine feminine
yang yin
opposition complementarity
exclusion inclusion
diversity unity
detail overview
drop ocean
particle wave
either-or both-and
quantitative qualitative
cognitive affective
two-value logic fuzzy logic
drops ocean
simplicity complexity
closed systems open systems
literal symbolic
science art
precision nuance
centrifugal centripetal
anchored centered
active passive
result-based process-oriented
work play
criticism creativity
make it happen let it be
control the process trust the process
rule-based spontaneous
correctness rectitude
actual potential
actualize visualize
freedom community
life is rational life is experimental
individual utility common good
self-interest love
strict father nurturing mother
Almighty Father Divine Mother

No comments: