Shifting paradigms requires macroscopic, integrative thinking

The ability to shift a paradigm requires, among other things, the ability to see the current framework of thinking as an integrated system, then to ask three questions:

1. Why is the paradigm the way it is?
2. What if it could be improved?
3. How might we improve the paradigm?

To solve problems and draw conclusions within an existing framework requires a blend of analytical and elastic thinking. But the act of envisioning a new framework for thought relies heavily on the elastic component—on skills such as imagination and integrative thinking.

Paradigm shifts are peculiar in that they leave many previously successful people behind, people whose rigidity of thought causes them to cling to the old framework to which they are accustomed, despite often overwhelming evidence that the paradigm shift is valid. Or sometimes, those who cannot accept a shift form the vast majority, and its implementation is blocked or delayed.^[1]

#cognition #strategic #paradigms #systems-thinking

See also:

• Resources/Garden/Staging/Integrative, Macroscopic Thinking
• Integrative, Macroscopic Thinking is antithetical to higher education
• Paradigm shifts create a new framework of thinking
• Paradigm shifts reconstruct the field from new fundamentals
• Three questions form the essence of innovation