The space between. Liminal thinking is a kind of psychological agility that enables you to successfully navigate these times of transition. It involves the ability to read your own beliefs and needs; the ability to read others’ beliefs and needs; and the habit of continually evaluating, validating, and changing beliefs in order to better meet needs.”
We both recognize that the look of things, the name of things, forms the doorknob to the door and belongs in this great villa of learning and understanding that pervades mankind. Each of us resides in some strange side chapel, which we poke our nose out of every once in a while, prod the rest of them, and invite them over into our little alcove for our odd interpretation and individual definitions of how to join us in a more interesting, more productive, and more understanding life.
This is certainly a book to be read because it is like being with Dave himself, filled with the energy of his conviction, his whole belief system about how to get through our life of thinking and making sense, asking questions, exploring our alternatives, and in a conversational way, with Super Glue attached, putting it all together in an amalgam of a story.
Boy, does Dave do it well, and he seems to do it effortlessly. He can produce one of these babies in one-tenth the time it would take me. Dave is formidable physically, so it’s accurate for me to say that when I’m in his presence, I look up to him and he looks down on me.
When we’re sitting, I think we’re more equal and very much in the same street, neighborhood, village, town, city, county, and country. In the best sense of the word, this is popularization of the obvious, of the space between things, of seeing things you’ve always seen but never seen and pulling them into your own personal library, for getting through the morass, the flotsam and jetsam of all the stuff that’s around us.
He’s on my short list of a very short list of kindred spirits. I wish him well. And you would be wise to get past my prattle and read his book.
—Richard Saul Wurman
Newport, R.I.
10 August 2015
Preface
How This Book Came to Be
A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.
—Albert Einstein
Some years ago, I came across a book that had inspired me as a high school student. The book was called Rapid Viz: A New Method for the Rapid Visualization of Ideas by Kurt Hanks. It was the first time I had ever seen someone articulate the idea of drawing as thinking, which since then has become a central theme of my life and work.
The book taught me that drawing is not just a means for illustrating ideas that already exist, but also a medium for exploration, investigation, thinking, and discovery.
The book sat on my shelf for many years, but one day I opened it again, and I was happy to find that it was still as clear, fresh, and compelling as the book I had first opened 20 years earlier.
On a whim, I searched for the author on Google, found his website, and sent him a message through his contact form. The note was quite short:
Hi Kurt,
Just a note to say that your books have been a great inspiration to me – thanks!
Dave
To my surprise and delight, he answered me, which started a dialogue, which became a friendship, which ultimately led directly to the book you’re holding in your hands right now.
What I know now, but didn’t know then, was that Kurt is far more than a visual thinker and designer. He is something that I didn’t really have a name for at the time, but which I now call a liminal thinker. In some ways, he is like a designer or an architect; in other ways, like a psychologist. His art is helping people break down, examine, explore, analyze, and reconfigure their beliefs. More often than not, this process leads to profound change.
One of the reasons he is so good at this is his bedside manner. He is a warm and caring person and one of the best listeners I know. He does not judge.
What I learned from Kurt is that beliefs are often the main things standing in the way of change, not only for individuals, but also for teams, families, organizations, nations, and even the world as a whole.
It took me some years to absorb Kurt’s philosophy, and even longer to learn how to apply it to my work as a leader and management consultant. I’m still learning new things from him all the time.
My early interest in design was sparked by Kurt’s work, many years ago, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that years later, he would inspire me again and spark a renaissance in my life and work.
As a consultant, I would try some of Kurt’s ideas on a large project and find that they succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. The more I worked in the world of organizations and transformation, the more I kept coming back to Kurt’s fundamental premise:
We construct our beliefs, mostly unconsciously, and thereafter they hold us captive. They can help us focus and make us more effective, but sadly, they also can limit us: they blind us to possibility and subject us to fog, fear, and doubt.
Kurt and I have agreed, in the spirit of friendship and in the interest of growing the exciting discipline that we have started to call liminal thinking, to steal liberally from each other.
Nevertheless, I would like to acknowledge him as the source for many of the ideas you will find in this book. Kurt has been working with hearts, minds, and beliefs for many years.
This book is dedicated to Kurt Hanks, my friend and mentor.
Introduction
What Is Liminal Thinking?
Once you see the boundaries of your environment, they are no longer the boundaries of your environment.
—Marshall McLuhan
Have you ever had a moment that changed your life forever?
When I was 29 years old, I desperately wanted to quit smoking, but I didn’t believe I could do it. I felt like I was caught in a trap. I didn’t want to smoke anymore, but I didn’t think I could quit. I had tried before and failed.
Then one day, I was sick with a chest cold. I was so addicted that even though I was sick and coughing, I didn’t stop smoking, not even for a day. As I sat there, in my bathrobe, coughing and smoking, I pictured myself as an old man, wheezing, unable to catch my breath, and feeling that way all the time, not just when I was sick.
That day, impulsively, I quit. It wasn’t easy, but to my own surprise, I stuck with it and haven’t had a cigarette for more than 20 years.
That in itself was a huge change. But it was accompanied by a deeper change. I realized that if I could quit smoking—something I had thought was impossible—then I was capable of a lot more. The confidence and courage I gained by quitting smoking
