# Adjacent Context
#concepts • #gtm/strategy • #creativity • #sensemaking
## Summary
Adjacent context is the ability to pull relevant insight from one domain and apply it creatively to another.
## Definition
Coined by [[Tom Critchlow]], *adjacent context* describes the practice of thinking laterally about a problem space—"looking sideways" for unexpected analogies, metaphors, or lessons that may be invisible to those embedded within a single domain. It’s a form of strategic creativity grounded in curiosity and the ability to perceive patterns across boundaries.
In Critchlow’s framing, adjacent context is particularly valuable for independent consultants who exist slightly outside organizational walls. It enables them to bring fresh eyes and borrowed insight into spaces that may be suffering from cognitive homogeneity or institutional blind spots. Building on that, I believe this concept also represents a deeper posture of **philosophical sensemaking**—a way of attending to the world that resists regurgitated thinking and instead seeks resonance.
## Properties
- **Cross-domain relevance**: Thrives on breadth of exposure and resonance across contexts.
- **Strategic lens**: Frames problems in ways that invite influence from beyond.
- **Sensemaking posture**: Humble, inquisitive, and resistant to canned insight.
- **Narrative leverage**: Often expressed through metaphor, analogy, or lateral framing.
- **Independent edge**: A hallmark of those who work at the edge—between roles, industries, disciplines.
### Wayfinding
%% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: start
```dataview
TABLE WITHOUT ID
questions AS "Responds to",
origins AS "Informed by",
ideas AS "Developed alongside",
concepts AS "Builds on"
WHERE file.name = this.file.name
```
%%
| Responds to | Informed by | Developed alongside | Builds on |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| \- | <ul><li>[[resources/clippings/The Strategic Independent - Clips.md\|The Strategic Independent - Clips]]</li></ul> | <ul><li>[[thinking/seeds/coherence as an emergent gtm property.md\|coherence as an emergent gtm property]]</li><li>[[thinking/seeds/marketing as reification.md\|marketing as reification]]</li></ul> | <ul><li>[[thinking/concepts/skill premium.md\|skill premium]]</li><li>[[thinking/concepts/embodied cognition.md\|embodied cognition]]</li><li>[[thinking/concepts/thinking, computing, simulating.md\|thinking, computing, simulating]]</li></ul> |
%% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: end %%
> [!info]- Changelog
>- [[2025-05-21-Wednesday]] - captured and refined