Logic is neither just conventional wisdom nor linear arithmetic rules; it’s about sequence and consequence; cause-effect, etc.
O
ur global world becomes information abundant and interdependent; the problems today usually have many causes and can be very complex. The nonlinear logic comes through different characteristics such as hyper-diversity, ambiguity, unpredictability, and increased flux, etc.You can’t figure out the exact cause and effect if you are not able to gain an in-depth understanding of the interconnectivity; uncover hidden logical clues, develop interdisciplinary knowledge fluency, and generate fresh insight fluently.
Nonlinear logic is about understanding that the whole is bigger than the sum of parts sometimes: Linear thinking implies the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. The reason linear thinking is in many cases not so effective today is because there is always a temptation to use simple linear logic to understand highly complex or nonlinear scenarios. Usually linear logic breaks things down to the pieces, but it often ignores the interconnectivity between parts and the whole. So the traditional management based on linear logic and reductionist disciplines is gradually outdated, as it causes silo, frictions, culture inertia, and overall business ineffectiveness.
One small event in one place can cause significant impact in the other place surprisingly: Organizations and societies are diverse and dynamic, there are multiple starting points from which one can apply logic to deal with complex issues. It’s important to discover those critical leverage points, figure out how a trigger in a system can lead to big change. The whole effort of leveraging diverse viewpoints to connect dots, applying nonlinear logic to deal with tough situations is to improve effectiveness, and laser focus on the most critical things that need to be handled smoothly.
From multitude of business management perspectives, there are both hard and soft success factors; people, process, and technology are tangible; however, culture, communication, or leadership, etc, are often intangible, Nonlinear logic is able to threshold all of these into differentiated business competency. Insightful leaders and professionals with cross-disciplinary understanding and nonlinear logic can discover the root cause of problems, take step-wise actions with behaviors that are logically linked to the information they have, knowledge they are equipped with. Organizations can identify effective leverage points for expanding in all directions horizontally and vertically to make a significant impact on different aspects of progress.
Innovation logic is nonlinear and multipath to generate novel ideas fluently: Creativity is about connecting the wider dots, cross-disciplinarily, but there is a logic as a hidden clue underneath; there is the full cycle of emotions to spur innovation. In fact, logic, intelligence, creativity are often nonlinear, interconnected manifestations of a high mental capacity. Without the inner balance of energies, one cannot achieve a perfect balance of emotions and logic to generate fresh ideas fluently. Logic enables us to uncover patterns and understand the interconnectivity, unpuzzle the myth behind creative intelligence.
Being creative is not just about “being knowledgeable,” because they are often at the edge of things and able to expand the boundaries of knowledge. Creativity is logical because it often imposes a higher cognitive capacity as you think “harder” via different thought processes such as association, perspective shifting, divergent thinking, etc. People cannot be good at being analytical without creativity; they cannot keep cultivate creativity without continuously learning, growing, interpreting, analyzing information and recognizing hidden patterns to spur ideas relentlessly.
Logic is neither just about conventional wisdom nor linear arithmetic rules; it’s about sequence and consequence; cause-effect, etc. Nowadays, it’s important to leverage nonlinear logic for understanding patterns of changes, complexity of problems. The better you are fluent with nonlinear logic, the better chance you are able to deal with complex issues and reach the next level of understanding and professionalism.
