Eclecticism: The Creative Joys and Practical Wisdom of ‘A Little Bit of This, and a Little Bit of That’
IN THIS (ADMITTEDLY OVERDUE) PIECE, MY AIM IS THREEFOLD 1) TO reflect on and gather to the best of my knowledge, an account of what eclecticism has meant in the past and its rich history 2) to get us up to speed about how the meaning has evolved to its present form, and 3) to point forward to the implications it has for creative problem solving today, and why it remains a compelling and applicable concept. There are some other fun goodies thrown in too, which you’ll see further down. Let’s go!
PART I: WHAT IS ECLECTICISM? WHY DOES IT MATTER?
the barber shop called, they want to know what soccer team you support.
In Greece, visiting the barber is more than a haircut. After discussing the weather, school, favorite colors, and personal life, the conversation often shifts to Greek soccer and your team allegiance. Choose wisely, as your answer can make you a friend or foe. Remember, they have scissors. While sports can unite us, I question when fandom turns into fanaticism, creating divisions over sports, art, or life. As I got older, I realized that such exclusion often stems from the quick judgments we all make that can sometimes get out of hand.
And the problem extends far beyond sports and hobbies. Despite the vast availability of everything in our media landscape, that same environment has paradoxically fostered rigidity in thinking in all kinds of ways. The “filter bubbles” of insularity that our devices encourage isolate us along intellectual, aesthetic, and political tastes. Our world is vastly complex and interdependent, and the opportunists have taken advantage of the confusion, disguising their agendas as simple solutions. Nuance and critical thinking fall by the wayside in the fatigue of sifting through this misinformation mudslide. Our world is also factionalized along ideological lines that even extend into issues of cultural taste. This picture calls for a better, solution-oriented mindset. Enter eclecticism.
So, what is eclecticism?
So, what is eclecticism? Yes, you guessed it —because it’s my blog—eclecticism is a Greek word! It comes from eklektikos, which means you have not called your grandfather in three weeks, and if you don’t soon, well, you can forget about the next birthday money in the envelope. Just kidding, it means “selective.” The way I would define eclecticism is as a free spirited, yet selective, borrowing. “Choosing freely from doctrines from different systems of thought without adopting the whole parent system.” It’s takes in a wide range of things, including philosophy, art, even theology. It’s fundamentally not about one thing or the other, but about the mix. If culture becomes rigid, eclecticism remains stubbornly open to experience, and resists ossification.
Eclecticism is nothing new, in fact, it’s very old.
The history of architecture is rife with eclecticism. If we go back around 2,500 years and reflect on the Parthenon, its eclectic history will unfold, with its Greek, Ottoman, Byzantine, and other influences. Renaissance architecture saw a revival of classical themes, with a new innovative twist. Postmodern architecture deliberately referenced past styles to critique them.
Examples abound in the arts. Collage is inherently eclectic art form that began in ancient China and spread around the world, drawing from a wealth of materials and sources of inspiration. David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust persona borrowed from the traditions of Kabuki theater, Jacques Brel, and more. Ridley Scott’s Alien movie is an example of repurposing the haunted house storyline to an outer space adventure. In fashion, designers frequently take inspiration from runway and street fashion across time periods and cultures.
Examples outside the arts include the golden ratio, an ancient concept representing simplicity and orderliness that applies across mathematics, architecture, the fine arts, and nature. The hero’s journey, first studied in Joseph Campbell’s books, and other narrative structures, persist from antiquity to the latest immersive video games. Educational eclecticism advocated for a curriculum that prioritizes holistic learning over early specialization. Dialectic is rhetorical eclecticism with ancient roots, revealing truth by drawing from opposing ideas. Leonardo Da Vinci drew omnivorously from studying bird flight to early designs of airplanes.
What pervades across all these examples is an interest in 1) hybridization: creating a new synthesis from seemingly different things. 2) repurposing: taking old things and revising them for new relevance. 3) playfulness: a free-spirited, almost childlike sense of fun in experimenting and exploring, and 4) improvement: putting rigid categories aside for the sake of building new combined meaning designed to improve on the original.
Eclecticism mirrors the richness of life.
Eclecticism mirrors the diversity of what it means to be alive, and comes to the aid of challenges in nature and society. If we turn to the natural world, we see how nature eclectically combines different habitats to create ecosystems, or different evolutionary paths and reproductive mechanisms to survive. Landscapes around the world feature a range of geological characteristics, and weather comes together to form weather patterns. Human cultures follow eclecticism by combining traditions, beliefs, and practices. In philosophy and religion, different schools of thought and belief systems are combined. In diplomacy, eclecticism is used in instances where multilateral parties come together to solve problems, or mix diplomatic frameworks. Think of the diversity of ecosystems and landscapes found in nature, within the human body, or across the universe. In hybrid martial arts , combined techniques and approaches from other fighting systems are used.In psychology, a clinician might combine approaches to therapy to tailor treatment to a specific patient.
The acknowledgment of such diversity is a problem solving method in many areas, particularly of a creative nature, in our world. And eclecticism naturally comes to nature and society’s aid.
Eclecticism bursts our bubbles of insularity and expands our minds.
In today’s media environment, we are saturated with politics, filter bubbles, deep fakes, and echo chambers that dominate our media about any political issue you can name. We are divided along ideological lines, and encouraged to stay behind those lines.
The rigidity has tinted the cultural landscape too. Fandom comes to mind. And meme culture. Debates rage and people whip out their torches and brass knuckles over whether there was enough space on the door for Jack at the end of Titanic. Whether Die Hard is a Christmas film. Whether you saw the blue and black dress or heard laurel or yanni. And whether Drew Barrymore scraping pizza toppings into a salad is a culinary revelation.
Eclecticism flips the switch on these debates, because it doesn’t fight the other side, it fights the idea of fighting the other side.
Eclecticism is the art of enthusiasm, answering rigid ideology with multiplicity. No prior knowledge is required. You can have great taste, and every taste. It is not, as some might say, philosophical infidelity, incompatible with having an opinion or taste, quite the contrary, it is about being multi-informed, even if the conclusion you formulate is one.
Eclecticism is true to our complex world
Eclecticism tackles multifaceted problems with multifaceted solutions. It trains the brain during the initial phase of problem formulation to consider multiple options without oversimplifying, preserving important nuance for effective solution-building. Organizations have embraced terms like open innovation, system thinking and design thinking, because they welcome the use of unconventional synthesis in problem solving.
This type of dynamic problem solving enters our brains into ‘slow thinking’ (which I will discuss further down), a system our brains reserve for careful nuanced thought that is associated with more effective problem solving, according to research done by Henley Business School.
Eclecticism also meets the challenges of the present by respecting global interdependence. Supply chains bridge continents, deforestation impacts global air quality, international investments and trade link financial systems, the interconnectedness of geopolitics can escalate and spread war, and so on. Eclecticism teaches us to think integratively and holistically, to account for a tangled web of causes and effects, which problem solving requires in the complex systems we depend on.
There are many interesting examples of the use of integrative problem solving from history, and, in the true spirit of eclecticism, I will borrow from anywhere the wind blows. The invention of Singapore’s water management strategy shows how a multifaceted approach was taken that combined water recycling, rainwater harvesting, international agreements and public service campaigns, meeting a complex challenge with a solution that did not sacrifice nuance.
The Apollo program in the 1960s that landed humanity on the moon also required multi-informed problem-solving. Cross-disciplinary collaboration between engineers, scientists, and government agencies addressed critical issues and unprecedented needs of such a mission like life support, communication, navigation and so on.
Eclecticism is true to our unpredictable world.
The only thing certain in our world is change, so thinking eclectically meets the uncertainty with resilience. The term ‘VUCA’ tends to describe our world (Volatile, Unpredictable, Complex, Ambiguous). How to navigate the fog? If resilience is the way, eclecticism is the map to the destination. Eclectic solutions teach resilience, because they inherently embrace 1) adapting and turning obstacles into opportunities and 2) flexibility and creative thinking.
The link between eclecticism and adaptability is important. It’s about moving to a ‘can do’ mindset. Creative ideation amidst pressure for solutions is eclectic, and has been documented as a core capacity of organizations in business literature. Another form of resilience that is related to eclectic and unconventional solutions is the syncretics methodology, which requires the resilience of “making the familiar strange, and the strange familiar” in order to push for alternative perspectives that trigger creative ideation.
The link between eclecticism and flexibility in the context of volatility is important. Mental and emotional flexibility and the creative thinking that gives rise to eclectic solutions go hand in hand. The more open and playful one remains in the search for possibilities in the face of uncertainty, the more creative and eclectic the solutions are likely to be. The opposite is true too.
PART II: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER—What are the applications OF ECLECTICISM IN CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING TODAY? What are the implications?
There is abundant room for eclectic approaches in the world of creative problem solving today. But first, a brief retrospection. This blog, I realize, as I flip through past entries, has embraced the spirit of eclecticism. The Sharpener stubbornly refuses categorization by embracing a variety of content and topics ranging from photojournalism to an experimental story written from the point of view of my dog Sam (who thinks he is cerbrerus, guardian of the underworld). I have also incorporated a variety of different media, genres, topics, and activities into the production of this blog ranging from animation to poetry to philanthropy.
In "Live (Comes to our) Aid,” I asked about the relevance of the integrally human experience of going ‘live’ to experiential marketing. In a later post, I went live myself, taking questions from the audience on a range of topics, from artificial intelligence and piracy, to customization, fake news, and so on.
In ‘Mothership’, I reflect on what I refer to as “reflection and remix,” a key pillar of my learning experience at school. Through specific remembrances, like delivering a TEDx talk, and growing up in a place like Athens, Greece, where “past, present and future are in constant conversation,” I describe how my early experiences conditioned my mind and my fellow alumni to a constant state of remix, which I compare to eclecticism.
In Fetaverse, I reflect on how the example of multi-hyphenate shape shifters of culture and industry in the past offers eclectic identity solutions to the shape-shifting needs that the complex problems of today need in order to be faced.
In “All Greeks on Deck,” I describe how collaboration breeds innovation, which is eclectic, because it implies the intermingling of seemingly disparate ideas and communities in order to achieve it.
And my publication isn’t the only one that embraces this approach, leading tourist magazines like Greece Enthusiast showcase Greece through a distinctly personal perspective. By filtering the country’s wonders through the eyes of local voices and perspectives, this magazine offers readers authentic and thoughtful ideas about an eclectic variety of aspects of Greece, each shaped by firsthand experience.
So, if I may be so bold, I will distill my definition of eclecticism, drawing from the above examples and reflections, and distill some observations about eclecticism, and what it means for creative problem solving today.
Some insights about eclecticism to point forward to creative solutions:
Eclecticism is about applying past wisdom, even ancient wisdom, to solve present and future problems
Eclecticism is about creative borrowing and applying knowledge.
Eclecticism is about thinking kaleidoscopically
Eclecticism is about a mindset of resilience.
Eclecticism is about having an open mind while also being highly selective.
Eclecticism is about patience.
Eclecticism is about diversity of opinion and collaboration
Eclecticism is about interconnectedness
Implication #1— learning to dance to the algorythm
The machine learning technology that underpins artificial intelligence (which I predicted would become important years ago in my live show) follows the spirit of eclecticism. Those technologies cast their nets widely and synthesize intelligently. Rather than doomscroll, we can learn something about ourselves and how to adapt to these powerful technologies. Thinking eclectically can teach us how to be our human best in relation to them, to cultivate our own problem solving ability, and also to learn from their ability to synthesize eclectically. Problem solving has long been a hallmark of high functioning and well being, so developing these skills is an important marker of our ability to coexist with the machines.
Implication #2—having patience and curiosity in an impatient world
We live in a fast-paced society and work culture, where technology, information overload, misinformation and instant gratification run rampant. The pedestal we have placed speed on has undermined the importance of slow thinking, which improves problem solving rather than hindering it. When we slow down, we think more deliberatively, and more logically. This directly relates to eclecticism, because the very capacities of eclecticism (synthesis, out of the box thinking, etc) are a direct result of this slow thinking. Relaxing the need to produce a solution paradoxically allows those very solutions to “incubate”. The lesson of curiosity has been imparted to me by Sophia from Boston, a friend and mentor (more on my mentors here and here).
Implication #3—not being adversarial
Becoming eclectic is fundamentally cooperative and civil. Rather than treating others as adversaries (think of the barber shop example) it invites us to welcome diverse viewpoints and ideas. This mindset highlights common ground by opening the mind to the commonalities between us, values synthesis over division of ideas, and replaces rigid thinking with flexibility and adaptability, encouraging negotiation and compromise. By appreciating the complexity of human experience, eclecticism naturally fosters empathy and reduces unnecessary conflict. Ultimately, becoming eclectic cultivates empathy by requiring us to understand the opinions of those we may have previously defined as our opposers, and the motivations behind them, thus humanizing us to them. Empathy is a by product of this chemical reaction in our minds. This capacity of ‘strategic empathy’ is a known leadership trait that has helped to diffuse charged events in history, and those lessons can be applied to our own geopolitically intense times. The end result is an appreciation of the yin and the yang, the inherent goodness and badness in all things.
Implication #4—collaboration
Just as AI brings machine-powered eclecticism, another implication of the new eclectic mindset today is collaboration. This mindset encourages creative problem-solving through public-private partnerships and sustainability initiatives. For instance, Colombia's green corridors aim to reduce heat within Medellin, while Seoul has transformed a congested freeway into the Cheonggyecheon River Corridor. These examples show how eclecticism fosters a collaborative approach, blending diverse ideas and resources to create innovative solutions for urban challenges.
Implication #5—lateral thinking and synthesis
The conditions for creativity are fueled by thinking eclectically. The state of ‘flow’, known as the ideal state for creativity, when we’re feeling loose, and open to new ideas, with our brain riding on alpha waves, is a precursor to eclecticism. Eclectic things like free association, and comedy are enabled when we are open to the unexpected fusion of ideas, twist endings and punch lines.
The creative eclectic combination of existing things in new ways has led to creative solutions, and the openness to synthesis is the essence of creativity and eclecticism. For example, the application of blockchain technology to new areas like supply chain management, voting systems, and identity verification, is a prime example.
Implication #6—resilience
A word we hear too often and not often enough. The link between eclecticism and resilience is the ability to be creative in generating solutions under pressure. The development of telemedicine during COVID is an example of this, how healthcare providers needed to adapt consultations integrating technology, ensuring continuity of care and broadening accessibility of healthcare to people far and near. The solutions provided in order to bridge the digital divide in order to provide telemedicine and the emotional and mental flexibility required in order to implement and receive such care is an example of the emergence of resilience as a by product of eclectic thinking.
Implication #7—appreciating systems thinking and complexity
Eclecticism appreciates the incalculable complexity of our world, which is a prerequisite for the systems thinking required in much creative problem solving today. Take the complexity of our handheld devices, with the vast array of complex physical, biological, economic, political and interpersonal systems whose seamless functioning underpins them. It is this vastness of thinking that eclecticism conditions the mind to appreciate complexity—an essential ability to simplify given the infinite ways in which we can perceive any given thing — conducive to creative solutions to solve the world’s ‘wicked problems’, and anticipating once-in-a-lifetime events known as black swans.
Implication #8—being unpretentious and intellectually omnivorous
An impact of eclecticism is in opening the mind to aestheticism, appreciating “art for art’s sake,” as the movement said. It echoes what thinkers and artists of the 1960s called the “new sensibility,” allowing for an appreciation of “high art” like opera, and more common forms previously dismissed as unserious like comic books. Eclecticism can aid the explosion of previously rigid categories, because eclecticism is culturally omnivorous, which is associated with greater flexibility and openness to experience. Eclecticism helps to break down closed-mindedness in discussions ranging from fandom to foreign affairs through intellectual humility, reducing the polarization and rigidity that hinder effective communication.
Implication #9—seeing what others don’t
Thinking outside the box is part of eclecticism. When you resist categorical rigid thinking and open yourself up to the possibilities of combining different ideas, you think better and more rigorously, opening up the floodgates for innovaton. Marie Curie discovered radium through her observations of uranium salts, by noticing that some compounds emitted energy on their own, which was not explained by existing physics, and pursuing a line of inquiry that still resounds today. Jane Goodall also comes to mind, because she studied chimpanzees, who then seen as non-tool users and therefore distinct from people, but categorized an observation of chimps using sticks to catch termites as a tool use, drawing a previously unseen parallel between humans and chimpanzees that formed the basis of similarity between our species and theirs. These instances show that eclectic thinking, by integrating various perspectives, disciplines, and unconventional viewpoints, inherently fosters rigorous thinking and can produce groundbreaking ideas.
Another instance of open-minded eclectic synthesis leading to discovery is the 'accidental' discovery of penicillin by Dr. Alexander Fleming, who found mold on a piece of cheese. His story exemplifies how eclectic thinking by examining alternative perspectives can lead to groundbreaking results. Similarly, the development of the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin was influenced by synthesizing observations of diverse species during his travels on the HMS Beagle. Another example is the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, who combined his knowledge of sound and speech with electrical engineering to aid his invention. Finally, The invention of the iPhone also comes to mind. When Steve Jobs visited Xerox’s research labs, he studied the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of Xerox machines. His exploration was initially dismissed as “obscure, ” but what he saw allowed him to envision a generation of devices where touchscreens were the norm. His ability to understand the complexity of that system and envision its utility for a generation of smartphones reflects the power of eclectic creativity.
Implication #10—being well informed
Being eclectic in one's knowledge and interests often correlates with being well-informed because it involves interdisciplinary exploration and taking in diverse perspectives, which opens the mind. This approach enhances cognitive flexibility and expands knowledge networks, critical thinking, and the ability to synthesize information from multiple sources, which are key components of being well-informed.
So what?
In the wise words often attributed to Usher, you either “evolve or dissolve!” This could not be truer today. In our world defined by complexity, unpredictability, factionalism, haste and impatience, there are tremendous opportunities that call for this new, open adaptive mindset and intellectual style that is so old it’s new again.
Where I’m DONATING
The place on my mind that I’m donating to is Stanford Social Innovation. It is an organization that publishes a magazine that covers cross sector solutions to global problems. It is written by change leaders from around the world, and it vibed with the overall theme of eclecticism, and emphasizes solutions that don’t force one perspective or the other but the mix, which is why I am proposing it here in the true spirit of eclecticism.
A TOUCH OF ECLECTIC INTERACTIVITY—MAKE YOUR OWN ECLECTIC MASTERPIECE!
Canva is a fantastic tool I’m sure you’ve heard of with an interactive drawing board. I’m excited to see your creativity, just click the link. I’ve set up a board for you to showcase what you’ve learned here today, to add visually to our conversation. Whether it’s a unique slam poetry piece or a vibrant collage, I can’t wait to see your masterpiece! I’ve added a design of my own to get us started. Remember, keep it civil.