This paper discusses a general method for spectral type theorems using metric spaces instead of vector spaces. Advantages of this approach are that it applies to genuinely non-linear situations and also to random versions. Metric analogs of operator norm, spectral radius, eigenvalue, linear functional, and weak convergence are suggested. Applications explained include generalizations of the mean ergodic theorem, the Wolff-Denjoy theorem and Thurston’s spectral theorem for surface homeomorphisms.