Metaphors and frameworks as tools for thinking

Why we’re focusing on the wrong toolset

Simon Sinek once said, “start with why”. More than sound advice for leaders, it’s advice that helps us stay on our toes and forces us to question why our work matters, and in what sense. Why provokes us to think about objectives on top of which we want to create something. Why breeds critical thinking before anything. Why precedes the how and the what of whatever we have in our hands.

It’s one of the best principles we, as an industry, have been failing to follow.

The tools of the trade are killing the traders

Google Trends is one of my favorite tools to assess what people want, on a very broad level, over time. So I made a simple experiment.

This graph, I believe, speaks for itself. Four years of experience, sadly, have been confirming this broad trend: most of the conversations around social media don’t focus on the mindset or the value. They focus on the tools.

Maslow once said:

If the only tool you have is a hammer, [you] treat everything as if it were a nail.

Worse yet is failing to realize why we’re hitting the nail in the first place.

Likewise, by neglecting the why behind social media (an expression which sadly has become a shadow of itself), we do nothing more than confuse means with purpose. Metrics with value. The why loses to the how and what. Critical thinking loses to pointless “busyness”.

In short, the very tools that gave birth to this trade are killing the traders.

A new toolset for thinking

When we think of tools and toolsets, it’s only natural that we dive into the technical side of the issue. Natural, but not correct.

I believe there are at least two kinds of toolsets.

One of them is a toolset for executing. It focuses on the technical and mechanical tasks, representing the what and how of the job. A toolset for executing is governed by our understanding of a platform, something we can do through repetition and patterns which are fairly impermeable to their surroundings. Technically speaking, something either works or it doesn't.

The other is a toolset for thinking. It focuses on the idealistic and conceptual tasks, representing the why of the job. A toolset for thinking means we have to crack the often unpredictable patterns of human behavior and then reassemble them in light of our own reality (AKA first principles thinking). This can be achieved through observation, empathy and clarity. Reading about psychology helps too.

Like craftsmen, we should treasure the tools we work with. This means having the right toolsets for both vision and execution. Even a table needs some sort of blueprint to guide its building process, otherwise all you get is a stack of wood and an ugly living room.

Metaphors and frameworks

Toolsets for thinking vary with each person who uses them. I like to focus on metaphors and frameworks. They are of course governed by mindset, the why of the equation. But metaphors and frameworks help build the bridge to the how and what.

Metaphors are helpful if we want to frame a problem in clear, human language. They help figure out how we’re going to solve something through lateral thinking. Plus, they help us keep buzzwords outside in the cold. In the real world, no one cares about “engagement”, “reach” or “frequency”. Life isn't ruled by SEO-friendly categorizations.

Frameworks help tackle what we need to solve a problem. They transform strategy into a brick building exercise, where each piece supports the next one like a balanced LEGO construction. Frameworks help understand that the whole is bigger if properly supported by each individual part, while maintaining focus on a desired outcome.

Metaphors help understand and deconstruct the world. Frameworks help put it back up and running.

And while these two tools are useful to me, they might not be useful to you and you might have a whole different toolset. That’s fine, in fact it’s recommended. There are no rules. Except maybe one: before all else, we are humans. Our tools don’t shape us, we shape them. That’s what why is all about — helping shape what matters to then go do it.

Roman philosopher Seneca said it best:

A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.

What other tools for thinking do you use? Let me know on Twitter.