This book gives an explanation as to how thoughts can be categorized according to the degree of abstraction/concreteness, and what it means to think with a lower/higher degree of abstraction/concreteness.
This book argues why it is important to have a perspective of abstraction/concreteness in forming your thoughts and understanding others’ thoughts.
This book suggests a few points the readers should note when they are applying the perspective in their real-life situations.
Impressions
How Did I Discover It?
This time is my second read. Amazon shopping history says that I purchased the book back in August, 2021.
I do not remember much about why I came to purchase it, but I picked up the book again because how my relationship was at work reminded me of one of the chapters that talks about an ideal evolutionary process of the boss-subordinate relationship.
Who Should Read It?
Anybody who has experienced miscommunications with others and is curious why they cannot get their points straight across.
How the Book Changed Me
Reflecting on the section where the author describes abstraction as the question of why and concreteness as how, it makes more sense why I find some documentations confusing — it is because the authors mix whys with hows. When I have an opportunity to be the author of some documents, I would like to have the sections, the pages, or the documentation separate so that the distinction between these two appears clear.
Reflecting on the author’s argument about how a worker’s high performance is built upon a proper level of abstraction in job requests and the worker’s ability to handle the request, I am now more careful about taking the opportunity to work directly under C*Os. I don’t necessarily mean I will be reluctant to the opportunities but rather that I will put more effort into understanding their viewpoint beforehand.
The author states that miscommunications or communication gaps can be avoided by sharing an understanding of the preconditions behind the comments. Retrospectively speaking, my personal experience of unconducive discussions was primarily about this lack of understanding over the preconditions causing both sides of us to be unable to fill the gap. This book reminded me that the first step in any communication should be about understanding your communication partner.
My Top 3 Quotes
具体の世界のみに生きる人には抽象の世界は見えないのです。では、逆はどうかと言えば、抽象の世界が見えている人は、具体の世界も見ることができます。それは、五感という基本的には大多数の人が（程度の差はあれ）普通に操ることのできる能力に基づいているからです。” Those who possess only a concrete viewpoint cannot see from an abstract viewpoint, however, it is not so the other way around. This is so because a concrete viewpoint is based on the five senses that the majority of people have. ”
（「プロの仕事」とは、）顧客の抽象的依頼に幅広い具体的な業務知識を持って「ベストの着地点を示せる」ことであり、もし顧客が不自然に具体的な依頼をしてきた場合には、あえて抽象度の高い本来のニーズに一度戻した上で、再度ベターな解決策を示してあげられることです。” We call work professional when it serves clients with extensive, concrete job knowledge to indicate the best landing point and is done so through the abstraction of the client’s original request if needed. ”
第一印象というのは、「一回しか出会わない人にとっては」良いに越したことはないが、「長く付き合う人に対しては」必ずしも良いほうがいいとは限らない “ Although it is best to have a good first impression if you are meeting the person only once, it is not always better if you are going to see them for a long term. ” (I have a recent experience that can relate to this quote — a relationship ended short because I mistakenly assumed that it would be a long-term one and did not care to invest in a good first impression…! Read my story here.)
