Structural thinking is rational, logical, sequential, deductive reasoning. Gestalt thinking is intuitive, aspirational, global, big picture. Structural and Gestalt thinking are not typically considered to be functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain, but if you are familiar with hemispherical specialization, there is certainly a similar symmetry.
STRUCTURAL: details first – planned piece by piece, then built brick by brick, line upon line. Research. Development. Planning. Execution.
GESTALT: details last – built through the process of reverse engineering of a fully formed concept that came into existence in the mind as a completed whole. The nature of the component pieces that will have to be created will be determined by the nature of the completed whole.
“The opposite of a correct statement is an incorrect statement. But the opposite of a profound truth is usually another profound truth” – Niels Bohr, winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics
“The only hard choice in life is the choice between two good things.” – Indy Beagle, Emperor of the Rabbit Hole behind the Monday Morning Memo.
“Every good thing is in a state of tension with an equally good but opposite thing.” – Roy H. Williams
