I’ve been reading “Made to Stick” by Chip & Dan Heath and I’m considering the idea of concreteness.
Concreteness is the opposite of abstract. An abstract statement sounds something like my personal computer has high performance on the other hand a concrete statement sounds more like my personal computer has a 2.13 GHz processor. Being abstract is important if you are the commander of an Army and you require military dominance in a given region. However it’s the commanders on the ground that tranlslate that abstract statement and make it concrete (actionable) “Prepare a shipment of munitions, position troops at the border, and send in the fighter jets”. The troops need instructions to win the battle and the commanders need abstraction to win the war.
What’s more important abstraction or being concrete to winning? In what context do you use a concrete or abstract statement? I’ll share my thoughts over the course of the next few days.
#1 by Leslie on June 10, 2010 - 5:32 pm
I fancy calling Abstractos = Innovators, and Concreters = Implementers.
I have often worked with effective/fast implementers, but not always good innovators. The shortest path between two points looks different from the ground, than from the hill-top.
The implementer looks to his tools to get to the goal asap.
The innovator looks for a hill. There is inherent tension between the two.
When we run into impasses, we look ahead, whether we blame the tools or ourselves. Innovators re-calibrate the tools and endeavor to bypass the barrier, sometimes to find themselves at the same or a new impasse once more. Eventually, someone cries, “Stop! Find a hill, and report back.” And the innovator smiles.
“Little pain” points to tools. “Big pain” points to hills. “Before pain” points to nothing new.
I like hills, and get jazzed by the view as well as sharing them with skilled implementers.
Today, I’m in the hills. A quote seems apropos:
“It is wonderful what you can do when you have to.”
~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
And which way is more wonderful: concrete or abstract?
The answer is “Yes”.