Anthony Abbott

Summary

Key Insights

1. Earth: To Understand Deeply

• Knowledge isn’t binary; we can know to varying degrees.
• Don’t just accept superficial knowledge: aim for a deep understanding. This can be measured by our ability to teach or explain the concepts.
• Test comprehension by explaining concepts without notes.
• Break complex problems into solvable sub-problems; progress step-by-step.

2. Fire: Be Prepared to Make Mistakes

• Treat failure as a catalyst for learning and iteration.
• Look on each “mistake” as a learning opportunity.
• Every book, program, painting, or invention starts as a “bad” draft. That doesn’t matter
• Refine and iterate.
• Mistakes often answer a different question—identify that question.

3. Air: Raise Questions

• Always be asking questions, particularly to myself.
• What are my biases? What do I know? How do I know?
• An effective question sparks insight and action.
• The framing of a question shapes the answer; be alert to bias in phrasing.
• Adopt fresh perspectives by altering or exaggerating constraints.

4. Water: Follow the Flow of Ideas

• No one has ever had an idea that can’t be improved.
• Build on previous ideas; recognise that creativity is cumulative, not spontaneous.
• Apply an idea to new domains; adapt rather than discard.
• Seek small, continuous improvements instead of giant leaps.

5. Embrace Change

• Assumptions should be regularly challenged and revised.
• Improvement is endless; even “finished” ideas can evolve.
• Thinking habits and deliberate methods outweigh raw IQ in long-term impact.

Strengths

There are some points which, though not new, are worth reminding: the emphasis is on iteration, and it’s okay if the first draft is awful. Iteration is the key to success.

There are some good examples, for example, Goldman’s observation in 1937 that his customers bought only as much as they could carry, which led him to invent the shopping cart.

Weaknesses

There’s not much that is new to readers who are familiar with the genre. That thinking is a skill that can be learnt is as old as the Greeks.

Their central elemental metaphor adds nothing to their arguments; in fact, it is a distraction. The purpose of a metaphor is to assist the reader’s understanding, but here it adds nothing. The book would have been better had they written, aim to understand deeply, don’t be afraid of mistakes and so forth.

Reflections

The authors suggest that the reader read the book three times to fully absorb its lessons. But this is not a suggestion I will be following. The book is not without merit; some of its ideas and examples are momentarily interesting. Goldman and the shopping cart stand out. But the elemental theme is clunky and a waste of effort. Metaphors are used to enhance our understanding; the use of the elemental metaphor here came across as pretentious. Furthermore, the joint authors would identify themselves, for example, “I (Burgman) once taught a class …” Does the reader care which of the learned professors it was? Too many distractions!

Conclusion

The premise of The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking is that we can improve our thinking and that creativity is a learnable skill. Neither of these is new; similar ideas have circulated for a millennium. Perhaps what makes Burger and Starbird’s attempt interesting is the emphasis on the role of questioning. They argue that the quality of our questions largely determines the quality of our thinking, and that reframing, challenging assumptions, and asking precise, targeted questions are essential habits for generating insight and innovation.

Book Details

Title: The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking
Author: Edward Burger
Publication Year: 2012
Genre: Thinking
Reference: APA-08, p.1 

Amazon