Brownies

Let’s say you’re a rational, intelligent human being – so naturally, you like the middle parts of the brownies. They’re superior, and preferring them reflects upon you as a person of culture. Now imagine you’re looking for a romantic partner. Surely you also want someone cultured and intelligent, so you should seek out someone else who also prefers the middle parts of the brownies, right?

No! Despite the fact that liking the edge pieces is indicative of an unhinged personality, that’s probably who would make the best partner for you (at least, in this one area). If you both like the middle parts, then you’ll fight over them and the edge pieces will go uneaten.

The point is that the right person to complement you is not necessarily the person most similar to you. If you want to start a bakery to make your own brownies all the time, you don’t necessarily want business partners who also have a deep love of baking. You want business partners who have a deep love of operational organization, or finance, or workforce management, or any of the other things that are required to run a successful small business. If you all love baking but hate doing the books then the business is doomed.

To put it another way: when two jigsaw puzzle pieces are the same shape, they don’t fit together.

This is yet another reason to diversify your life. Get out of your echo chamber. Sure, it might be intellectually satisfying to hear other people agree with you about which parts of the brownies are the best. But when the hands start reaching for the pan, that intellectual satisfaction dries up real quick. Just like the dry, disgusting edges of the brownies.