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 Interesting Read
In seeking lessons to apply, we often try to emulate what effective leaders do, drawing on the accounts of actions as recounted in popular management books. Roger Martin, author of The Opposable Mind, suggests our focus on a leaders actions is misplaced because moves that work in one situation may be defeating in another. Martin proposes we place our attention on how leaders think.
Based on interviews with over 50 top executives, Martin came to the conclusion that they all share one unique thought process -- the predisposition and the capacity to hold two diametrically opposed ideas in their heads. And then, without panicking or simply settling for one alternative or the other, they're able to produce a synthesis that is superior to either opposing idea. Martin calls this integrative thinking (the discipline of consideration and synthesis).
Frequently we are asked to do two or more diametrically opposed things such as delivering more innovation with less money. Often we are tempted to pick one side of the argument (the side, we most easily identify with as - right) and close our eyes to the other. After reading this book, I've been able to catch myself and others making the same mistake and I've started to realize how easy it is for us to have a tendency towards either-or thinking. Our minds tend to naturally dismiss the complexity and messiness required to hold conflicting ideas in our head.
Martin described four stages in an interesting process that integrative thinkers (and firms) use to decide on and craft superior solutions. These are
1. Discover the salient features of a problem.
2. Develop causality of the factors
3. Envision the decision architecture
4. Achieve resolution
I found Martin's introduction to this illuminating subject fascinating.
 Did I overlook something?
I have no problem to apprehend the wisdom of Fitzgerald that "The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same timeand still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.". However, I really cant appreciate the author's elaboration and modification of the above into his "Integrative Thinking and Opposable Mind" terminology and modelling, which to me are common practice of scholars to add to their collection of research papers with little value at all. Sorry to say that even de Bono's books can help more. In short, not recommended.
 Beyond Binary Choices - Learning from the Best Leaders
Some of my best experiences in reading books have occurred when someone I trust and respect has said to me: "You need to read this book!" That is how I discovered the marvelous insights that Roger Martin shares in his book, "The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking." One day over lunch, my friend, Rick Cerf, showed me the book and told me that I needed to add it to my reading list. Thanks, Rick!
Martin, who is Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, offers as his major premise the idea that the best leaders avoid simplistic binary choices, and put in the extra effort to find solutions to complex problems - solutions that go beyond false dichotomies. The best leaders think in terms of "Both/And" rather than "Either/Or."
"As I listened to some of the sharpest minds in business talk about how they thought through the most pressing and perplexing dilemmas of their careers, I searched for a metaphor that could give me deeper insight into the dynamic of their thinking. The skill with which these thinkers held two opposing ideas in fruitful tension reminded me of the way other highly skilled people use their hands. Human beings, it's well known, are distinguished from nearly every other creature by a physical feature known as the opposable thumb. Thanks to the tension we create by opposing the thumb and fingers, we can do marvelous things that no other creature can do - write, thread a needle, carve a diamond, paint a picture, guide a catheter up through an artery to unblock it. All those actions would be impossible without the crucial tension between the thumb and the fingers. . . Similarly, we were born with an opposable mind we can use to hold two conflicting ideas in constructive tension." (Pages 6-7)
The language that Martin chooses here is very instructive, and is reminiscent of language I remember being used by one of my favorite graduate school professors - Dr. Gordon Fee. Dr. Fee, one of the translators of the New International Version of the Bible, is a brilliant biblical scholar and communicator. He would often describe difficult portions of Scripture that, on the surface, may appear to contradict each other, and he would declaim: "We hold these truths in tension!"
As an example of "opposable mind thinking," Martin offers the legendary choreographer, Martha Graham:
"Like Graham, the creative thinkers I interviewed knew they would need plenty of help to reach creative resolutions. They chose their collaboration expressly for what they would contribute to an integrated whole. Bruce Mau, a renowned designer and frequent collaborator with architect Frank Gehry, told me, 'You can't make a renaissance person any more, because the range of what you would need to do is just impossible. But you could actually assemble a renaissance team.' The integrative thinkers rely on their 'renaissance teams' to broaden salience, maintain sophisticated causality, and create a holistic architecture in their drive for creative resolution." (Page 82)
Throughout the book, Martin lays out principle for integrative thinking and fleshes out those principles using real world examples:
"Nandan Nilekani, the builder and CEO of what is perhaps India's most successful global IT powerhouse, Infosys Technologies Limited, says that when he's confronted with two fundamentally opposed sets of requirements, his first inclination is to ask, 'Are there solutions that satisfy both?' And when asked whether he thought strategy or execution was more important, Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric, responded, 'I don't think it's an either-or.'" (Page 114)
Since Rick turned me on to this book and its treasure chest of ideas, I have had occasion to share those ideas with quite a few individuals. In several cases, they called me back a day or two later to thank me for the insights, and to tell me that they had ordered their own copy of the book. In the interest of "paying forward" the gift that Rick Cerf gave me of a marvelous suggestion that I read this book, I recommend that you procure a copy of "The Opposable Mind."
Enjoy!
Al
Confirms what other experts in the field of innovation say
Being innovative and creative is such a highly valued trait in todays knowledge driven society. Who would have thought that people would be paid handsome sums of money to be creative consultants and drivers of innovation in the best technological , pharmaceutical, academic institutions.
Roger Martins book speaks clearly about what the other experts in innovative thought have discovered. The idea that dialectical thought is important for innovation to occur is gaining ground and is helping a lot of big names make huge leaps. The Opposable Mind talks about such ways of thinking and gives the theory, backed up by real world examples, in a clear easy to read format.
Roger Martins approach is probably a little more 'academically' refined considering the fact that he is the Dean at Rotmans School of Business.
He breaks what he wants to say in bite sized chunks so that the reader is not confused about what he is reading.
On the whole, this is a good starter book for someone who wants to learn about how the most creative minds in the world work and how they are able to churn out the ideas that make them successful.
Innovative thesis on the thinking style of successful leaders
I completely agree with Robert Morris' review of this excellent book. Psychology professors Howard Gardner of Harvard and Robert Sternberg of Yale have described how individuals have different cognitive abilities and thinking styles. In The Opposable Mind, Roger Martin, Dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, makes the case that an integrative thinking style is necessary for organizations and leaders to thrive given today's complex world. He provides fascinating examples of integrative thinkers and organizations. Martin deconstructs integrative thinking and by doing so helps us understand how to think in an integrative way.
This book is filled with interesting concepts and examples. I especially enjoyed learning about the examples of Isadore Sharp of The Four Seasons Hotel Company, Ideo, a scene from the movie Crash, A.G. Lafley of P&G, and Charles Sanders Peirce's fallibilist stance.
This book will benefit any leader or anyone who aspires to be a leader. It is a must read for anyone interested in knowledge management and systems thinking.
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