There are different cognitive styles at play in every workplace, even if we don’t name them.

One is the linear. The other mutative, or spider-web thinking.

These are functional descriptions of how information is processed and organized.

The Linear Mind

The linear brain works like a filing system.

You open a master folder. You decide in advance how things will be categorized, then create subfolders. Information is stored under predefined themes.

Thinking is sequential.

It resembles building a house. First the design. Then the foundation. Then the walls. Only after that the roof. Each step depends on the previous one.

The phrase “neurons that fire together wire together” applies to all brains, but in a linear style those connections reinforce sequential logic. Patterns become stable pathways. A leads to B leads to C.

You can often recognize this wiring by observable behavior:

• Desk tends to be tidy
• In meetings they prefer structured approaches
• Notes are clear and easy for others to follow
• No or minimal typos, their emails follow a structure, which makes it easier for the reader to scan
• They maintain steady eye contact while speaking
• They retrieve stored data with relative ease
• Their fact based memory is generally reliable

Their strength lies in order, repeatability, and building systems that others can execute.

The Mutative or Spider Mind

The mutative brain also has structure, but it is associative rather than sequential.

Give it a starting point and it may not move deductively from A to B to C. It may jump to L, O, X, a childhood memory, a market trend, and a metaphor about fruits.

This is not randomness, but fast, networked association. A fun way to test it is through an association game. 

If the linear mind resembles a carefully organized drive, the mutative mind resembles a desktop full of screenshots and open tabs. To an outsider it looks chaotic, but to the owner it makes sense.

In a workplace you might notice:

• A messy desk, yet they know exactly where things are
• Intense staring at a wall or out the window during meetings
• Lack of consistent punctuation, chunks of texts and one word information nuggets alternating on the page
• Interruptions that seem unrelated but actually connect to something said earlier
• Short bursts of eye contact
• Restlessness such as nail biting or skin picking while processing
• Difficulty recalling large factual chunks of a discussion
• Ideas that appear unfitting or premature

Their strength lies in pattern recognition across domains, lateral thinking, and unexpected connections.

Can Someone Be Both?

Everyone has both capacities. No brain is purely one or the other. 

But most people have a dominant mode and a secondary one.

Under pressure, the dominant style becomes even more pronounced.

The Friction

The predominantly linear thinker struggles when an idea does not fit an existing category. If it cannot be placed into a defined folder, it may be dismissed. Structure feels reliable and safe.

A practical way to work with this is to document the disruptive idea in detail while it is fresh. Then revisit it. Over time the structured mind may find a way to integrate it into an existing framework or create a new category for it.

The predominantly mutative thinker experiences imposed structure as labor, so it tends to avoid it and procrastinate until the last minute. At the same time, the absence of structure increases anxiety.

A practical intervention is external scaffolding. Use calendars aggressively. Break tasks into small units that can be completed quickly. Make implicit expectations explicit in meetings. If you process information better while looking away, say so. Clarifying this reduces the risk of being perceived as disengaged.

The Gifts

Linear thinkers tend to excel in:

• Operations and process design
• Finance and compliance
• Legal work
• Project management
• Any environment where reliability and sequence matter

Mutative thinkers often thrive in:

• Strategy
• Innovation
• Brand development
• Complex problem solving across silos
• Early stage environments where ambiguity is high

Predefined structures build stability. Outside-the-box thinking expands possibility. Organizations need both.

Leadership Implications

This becomes critical at leadership level.

A linear leader who surrounds themselves only with linear minds will build a well structured machine that may struggle to adapt.

A mutative leader who surrounds themselves only with mutative minds may generate endless ideas with weak execution.

The question is not which wiring is superior. It is whether a leader understands their own dominant pattern.

If you are linear, you need at least one person close to you who challenges your categories and brings cross-domain associations you would not naturally generate.

If you are mutative, you need someone who can translate your web of ideas into sequence, timeline and accountability.

The strongest leadership teams are cognitively diverse. Not performatively diverse. Functionally diverse.

Understanding how you think is not an abstract exercise. It determines who you should hire, who you should promote, and who you should listen to when your instinct says they are “difficult”.

Often they are not difficult, just wired differently.

Did you find it comfortable to read through the post line by line, and let the sections nicely stack on top of each other as you were progressing? Or were you rather scanning for words that jumped off the page, and you skipped right to the end? 🙂