I am an extremely visional person and when I am given a project or an assignment it is very rare for me to not instantly see in my mind a graphic solution. As an undergrad student I spent long days and late nights struggling to create the exact design in my mind, but routinely failed and my designs lacked dimension. Through the years I have learned to take that picture in my mind and use it as a starting off point. I know that as I design I things will come together differently than the original plan and if I am willing to roll with those differences and make the changes I will create something better then the picture in my mind. Being objective and working loose is not something that comes naturally to me, but is a valuable tool.

My professional experience has taught me that the structure and constraints I like can be a hindrance because of this I realize that holistic thinking is probably the most difficult thing for me to do. Holistic thinking is a term used in this weeks reading, describing the concept of seeing the big picture. It is a tough thing to do. As a creative person I have learned the value of holistic thinking in many areas. It is important to not fall in love with your ideas and to be willing to abandon one idea and allow a project to evolve.

In business, this is more difficult for me because there are areas where I lack experience, and so it is important for me to become more confident in those areas. This awareness made me think about the concept of a "t-shaped person". The height of the "t" of a “t-shaped” person represents his/her technical knowledge or expertise and the width of the crossbar represents his/her cross-disciplinary abilities. As I become more “t-shaped” my ability to think more holistically will also increase.