Symphony Thinkers

Dear Mr. Daniel Pink,

I want to thank you, again, for mentioning me in your book A Whole New Mind:  Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age.  You used me as an example of a symphony thinker- one of those people who has the ability "to put together the pieces... to synthesize rather than analyze... to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair."  The conductor, as opposed to the violinist. 

In your book, you identified other types of modern thinking that will be an advantage in the new marketplace.  I've been thinking about your theories.

Here is what being a symphony thinker means to me:

"Symphony thinking"  is about being able to draw from a wide range of fields.  It's being an artist of  information.  If my client needs a pep talk, I reach into myself and pull out something meaningful from Joseph Campbell,  Og Mandino, or the latest book I'm reading.  Mentally,  I'm a mini-library of motivational stuff.  If healing is what I intuit  you need, I draw on my reservoir of therapeutic experiences and offer  something useful from there.  But if this client in this situation needs good old fashioned number-crunching.  Alright.  I can whiz at the calculator.   

My breadth is wide.  I can accompany clients just about anywhere they need to go. Sometimes, my services are to escort them over to a person who can help better than I can.  My referral partners will take good care of them. 

I may not be the sharpest legal mind in yellow pages, but what I am good at is artfully offering a wide swath of options, opinions and assistance.  The same is true for my symphonic business friends Laila and Casey. 

Laila gives career advice (she's a vocational counselor), but she can just as easily talk with you about love, passion, and pleasure.  Casey can design your marketing material, but she just as easily slips into making meaningful  introductions to amazing people you've simply got to meet.  Neither limits their services to just the minimum.  They have so much more to offer. 

I think symphony is about offering clients and customers more than just the basics.  Web design needed?  We can talk about your brand identity or the legal trademark issues involved too...

Business incorporation needed?  We can sell you some good coaching services for just a few hundred dollars more.  Guitar lessons?  We'll record your first demo CD on the side if you like. 

Symphony thinkers?  We're wide-varietied folks.   We specialize, but in a board sort of way. 

Mr. Pink, I think you were right about symphony folks, about those type of people who see the big picture and reconcile the parts into a cohesive unit or whole.  However, I think you might be focused a bit too externally.  I think the real symphony work happens on the inside.  We've accumulated so many instruments into our personal orchestra that we can play a symphony if we have to, or just be one lonely clarinet if need be.  On the inside, we are rich with experiences.  Our perspective is textured, not flat.

Sincerely,

Stefani Quane
Bringing hope to a disillusioned industry:  the Law. 
www.lawlady.com