Different Ways of Thinking

by Greg Vineyard

In a recent discussion, I proposed a food analogy for different ways individuals process information. I got to thinking about buffets and desserts.

Layer cake in particular came to mind, because it is stratified, and demonstrates linear thought. It is intended to exemplify Listers and Outliners who think vertically and chronologically. Conversely, others process more in the fashion of a salad bar. There’s certainly a directional order, but also some Piling-On and Mixing. Both methods are progressions of sorts, with processes aiming toward some particular result.

“Cakes” build progressively on a particular concept, where new data, if any, “slots-in” to a particular place in the order. Those who have Cakily gone before us have done a lot of the work. Recipes have been tested a million times, the batter is the perfect consistency, and we rely upon the cookbook for how to best stack and frost. “Salads” have a looser regimen, adding and mixing along the way. Dash of salt? No problem!

When a new need, like creating a gluten-free dish comes along, the spread-out scenario works well. Salads can drop-in different items at different spots in the process, testing things like baking times and temperatures.

I’m sure there’s more to it, but I don’t cook much. For a reason. Just ask anyone who has tried anything I’ve ever brought to a potluck. (And this is partly why I go on about Star Trek food replicators: one of those would make my life SO much easier.) Anyway, some people enjoy expanding on the basics, exclaiming “So, there, Betty Crocker!”

While people tend to be more one or the other, I also think we’ve each got a bit of inner Cake or Salad, relying on different skills as tasks change. So, we have recipe-followers, and rule-tweakers.

But what about those who just come out of left field, whipping up edible meals out of fridge leftovers that no one else would even think of? These MacGyvers synthesize unrelated ingredients to make, oh, say, sweet potato cakes with apple-lemon zest with a coconut oil/banana pepper sauce. I shall call these “Woozlemuffins.” These could be concocted out of my humble kitchen right now.

This scenario is slightly Cake because it’s creating something we recognize in a particular order, slightly Salad because of the array of ingredients, and a good bit Woozlemuffin, because one is entirely innovating.

In relation to my illustration process, I can identify that my research and ideation phase is very Salad, with papers, books and sketches all around. Once I’m working on a larger drawing, I become a bit Cake, as the pastel layers need to go down on paper in a certain order. But there’s also a part of the visual arts that’s purely Woozlemuffin, with images and content just flowing as if out of nowhere.

All these archetypes are interconnected: if I have a Woozlemuffin day, at some point those resulting sketches will need to go through a bit of Cake and/or Salad processing to see if they’re viable.

Recognizing how one thinks and primarily solves problems can open the door to other methods one might also employ to tackle assignments, build business, and communicate with teammates, customers, and new prospects.

Much of what we do in life is about addressing a topic, fulfilling a need, or servicing a customer. But it’s also about finding one’s way along the way. Addressing branding? Many of us have learned that being prudently Cake-minded before going all Woozlemuffin on something can help to successfully maintain a business vision.

Well, this food analogy is pretty much chopped, diced, sliced and blended. I don’t know about you, but I’m fried. And more than a little hungry. I hope you seek, find, create, use and enjoy all the creative food you can today!