The OffBeat #20: Birds and Frogs
Which type of thinker are you?
The late physicist Freeman Dyson formulated this great concept about two types of thinkers, both critical to human progress. He called them birds and frogs:
“Some mathematicians are birds, others are frogs. Birds fly high in the air and survey broad vistas of mathematics out to the far horizon. They delight in concepts that unify our thinking and bring together diverse problems from different parts of the landscape. Frogs live in the mud below and see only the flowers that grow nearby. They delight in the details of particular objects, and they solve problems one at a time. Mathematics needs both birds and frogs. Mathematics is rich and beautiful because birds give it broad visions and frogs give it intricate details.”
Anything that’s both art and science—math, marketing, music, and most other human pursuits—requires, in Dyson’s words, a combo of “generality of concepts with depth of structures.” In other words, because human endeavor is both broad and deep, we need both kinds of thinkers—birds flying high, frogs looking low—working together in exploration.
The faunal metaphor is apt in a business setting, as being attuned to the nitty gritty is often described as being “in the weeds,” while contemplation of the big picture is often referred to as “looking at the bird’s eye view.”
There’s value—beyond value, real vitality—at all striations of the team in bird-like thinking and frog-like thinking. Like any ecosystem, a team requires a combination of roles and responsibilities to adequately function, let alone flourish. Certain players are passionate about integrating data points from far-flung places, others find more meaning in burrowing deep into the details of one datum at a time. We need both in order to thrive.
In my view, the strongest leaders can zoom up and down over the course of the day—even in the course of the same meeting—to consider the breadth and depth of the issue at hand. In most cases, the more senior the leader, the broader the remit, hence the need to consider an expansive view; but that view is enriched by pinch-to-zoom detail. So leaders often need to channel their inner bird and inner frog. (A rare case where “both/and” isn’t so bad.)
That said, you probably have a gut instinct for your natural tendency, and the tendency of your people, towards one or the other, both at work and at home.
Who in your family or friend unit thrives on the color-coded itinerary spreadsheet to plan each day of your trip? Who in your colleague cohort most frequently poses futurist “what if?” questions? Who in your weekly team meeting brings subject matter expertise on a critical functional area; and who then connects that work to key themes across multiple domains to tell a cohesive story?
Additional shorthand to shed light on birds vs. frogs if you want to pinpoint yourself and those around you:
BIRDS
Generalists
Cross-domain knowledge
Lateral thinkers
Zoom out to see patterns
FROGS
Specialists
Subject matter expertise
Linear thinkers
Hone in to see detail
Have a great week,
Allison
P.S. I’m a big personality test nerd. If you’re into this stuff too, check out 16 Personalities, Sparketypes, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, and Adobe Creative Types.