Free Range Thinker

The following is a revised and expanded upon post of one I wrote a couple years ago:

Sometimes, I can see why people choose to develop a “Me Against the World” or “You’re Either With Me or Against Me” mentality. There are dozes of such sayings. Another one I hear a lot is “Get on The Bus” — as if there were some magical bus that every like-minded groupie will hop on board and they will all go merrily off into this great little paradise they have created together.

I used to buy into such philosophies – or fallaciphies as I have come to call the. If you really consider them, they’re nothing short of self-centered, tyrannical dogmas. In fact, the figurative “drivers” of the busses are the first to cry about something like “group think” and are quick to say stupid things like “Think Outside the Box” — but what they really are saying is “That’s Not What I Want – Think My Way.”

Probably a lot of this thinking comes from the assimilation of people into organizations and exalting them into “leaders” or “movers and shakers” labels as a result of becoming known as individuals who “get things done” or at least appear to do so. It is quite easy to see how that corrupt line of thinking can begin to become common discourse.

But will it ever bring about change . . . or will it bury you in status quo?

The unfortunate fact is that people are people; business is business. The two can intermingle cooperatively and effectively if you allow it to happen. The truth is that five people who can work with a level of synergy and have a much greater potential than one person who thinks for a thousand.

So instead, maybe we should say,

• “You take your bus. I’m on the train!”
• “There is no box.”
• “Only the unthinkable is impossible . . . and nothing is unthinkable.”

This brings me to the “Apples to Apples” fallaciphy. It sounds good in concept: you have to have two like instruments to truly compare and contrast them. This is often followed by a misguided statement like “we’re really comparing apples to oranges.”

Maybe. But does that mean we should not compare them?

By segregating our fruits, we have pretty much determined that all we will have is more apples. That’s going to make a pretty boring fruit salad if you ask me. Besides, consider this:

What can you do with an apple? You can slice it, make juice from it, make a dessert from it. You can peel it, you can throw it against a wall or, you can take the seeds from it and plant a tree.

What can you do with an orange? You can slice it, make juice from it, make a dessert from it. You can peel it, you can throw it against a wall or, you can take the seeds from it and plant a tree.

DeJaVu! Maybe comparing the two isn’t such a bad idea after all.

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