Skyrocket your impact with asymmetrical thinking

Want to create extraordinary results? Then you need extraordinary thinking. Asymmetrical thinking.

What do the Trojan Horse, guerilla fighters and hackers have in common?

They’re all examples of asymmetrical thinking in action. Understanding what it is and how to employ it can give you a gargantuan advantage in your career and life.

Asymmetrical thinking challenges assumptions and often uses wildly different tactics to solve problems and seize opportunities.

“The essence of asymmetric thinkers is that they aren’t afraid to approach problems that seem much larger than their capabilities to address them. And they also take the unique attributes of each problem and do their best to turn them into advantages,” explains Alexander Jutkowitz in The Strategic Storyteller.

3 examples of asymmetrical thinking

For example, in the ancient tale of the Trojan Horse, the Greeks gifted a giant wooden horse to the city of Troy. But the Trojans didn’t realize that a small number of Greek warriors were hiding inside it. During the night, they crept out and unlocked the city gates, enabling the rest of the Greek army to enter the city and sack it.

During the Vietnam War, American armed forces were defeated by much smaller and seemingly under-equipped bands of guerilla fighters, who would ambush American troops and then return to their hiding places.

Today, hackers use unprecedented and unforeseen ways to circumvent network security that is supposedly impenetrable.

“Hackers are the ultimate asymmetric fighters. They are able to take on enemies far larger than they are by turning a strength — the speed and interconnection that comes with the Internet — and turning it into a vulnerability,” Jutkowitz points out.

Why become an asymmetrical thinker?

Adopting more savvy, creative thinking strategies can help you stand out and advance faster. It can help you generate results that are out of all proportion to what people expect. In a world where we’re inundated by information and noise, an unconventional…