Think Like Da Vinci

Description

Was Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci’s brain different from yours? Yes . . . and no . . . 

Chances are, you have a wide array of interests. Beyond that, you’re always finding connections between them, even when these may be obscure.

Colleagues at work, even your boss, may compliment you on your approach to solving problems.

You may already be an admirer of the visionary referred to as a ‘polymath’ and ‘Renaissance Man.

But you’ve never thought you could be like him.

After all, Da Vinci was well ahead of his time. Hundreds of years after his death his notebooks were influential in the creation of modern flight, optometry, and photography. How could you follow in his footsteps?

It’s true that not everyone can display the genius of Da Vinci. Despite this, there are several underlying principles that supported his innovation and creativity that anyone can apply to their daily life.

If you’re a creative problem solver, like we mentioned above, you may already be using one of Da Vinci’s approaches called systems thinking.

Systems thinking is a modern concept but it echoes much of Da Vinci’s process. Barry Richmond, one of the leaders in the field, defined it as “the art and science of making reliable inferences about behavior by developing an increasingly deep understanding of underlying structure.”

At its very core, Da Vinci’s way of thinking encourages solutions that arise out of understanding that most problems are the result of a complex interplay of factors.

Being a systems thinker may be fine at work, you might be saying, but is there any other area of my life I can apply this to? Da Vinci lived 500 years ago and was an inventor, painter, and architect among so many other things. My life isn’t anything like his.

Let’s examine a typical 21st-century problem: achieving work-life balance.

The demands of your job leave you too tired to spend time and build meaningful relationships with your family. You also don’t have enough opportunities to rest or engage in hobbies. Unfortunately, you don’t have the option of leaving. What do you do?

This book shows you how to use systems thinking and other Da Vinci techniques to find practical, real-world answers for tough questions like these.