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Weekly UpdatesTHE OPPOSABLE MIND How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking
Roger L. Martin
Published by: Harvard Business School Press ISBN: 9781422118924 Hard cover, 224 pages $29.95 Cdn
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Roger Martin in his book, The Opposable Mind, provides the reader with an introduction to integrative thinking. The definition of this concept he provides the reader is as follows:
"Integrative Thinking is the ability to constructively face the tension of opposing ideas and instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each."
Martin did extensive research with successful CEO's, Fortune 100 companies and leadership experts and found one common thread was their ability to use integrative thinking. This allowed him to develop a model of how integrative thinking works.
Martin explains integrative thinking by examining decision-making--the leader's ultimate responsibility. He breaks the decision-making process into four steps:
1. Determining salience what we deem as important.
2. Causal relationships--making sense of what we see.
3. Evaluating the decision architecture--prioritizing and ordering tasks.
4. Achieving resolution--the decision is completed.
The first step requires you to consider the less obvious to the decision-making, rather than just looking at the obvious. You must be willing to leave your comfort zone and deal with the messiness, complexity and chaos. In the second step, as a leader, you should test the relationship between cause and effect. The third step requires a holistic view of the problem rather than piecemeal. The last step to achieve resolution is achieved by setting high standards and looking for creative solutions.
I found this a thought provoking book that provided me with a different way of approaching problems.
Review Written by: Joyce Evans, MPA, C.Dir, FCGA, FCIM
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