The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking | 
 enlarge | Author: Roger L. Martin
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 5494
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 1
ISBN: 1422118924
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4092
EAN: 9781422118924
ASIN: 1422118924
Publication Date: December 4, 2007
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Product Description
If you want to be as successful as Jack Welch, Larry Bossidy, or Michael Dell, read their autobiographical advice books, right? Wrong, says Roger Martin in The Opposable Mind. Though following “best practice” can help in some ways, it also poses a danger: By emulating what a great leader did in a particular situation, you’ll likely be terribly disappointed with your own results. Why? Your situation is different.
Instead of focusing on what exceptional leaders do, we need to understand and emulate how they think. Successful businesspeople engage in what Martin calls integrative thinking—creatively resolving the tension in opposing models by forming entirely new and superior ones. Drawing on stories of leaders as diverse as AG Lafley of Procter & Gamble, Meg Whitman of eBay, Victoria Hale of the Institute for One World Health, and Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Martin shows how integrative thinkers are relentlessly diagnosing and synthesizing by asking probing questions—including “What are the causal relationships at work here?” and “What are the implied trade-offs?”
Martin also presents a model for strengthening your integrative thinking skills by drawing on different kinds of knowledge—including conceptual and experiential knowledge.
Integrative thinking can be learned, and The Opposable Mind helps you master this vital skill.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
Well-written discussion on integrative thinking July 13, 2008
Great topic. Essentially, Martin argues that leaders need to integrate ideas in order to succeed. Although the author might have conducted considerable research to reach this conclusion, in my opinion much of what is offered in this text really is not ground-breaking material. While Martin does bring some structure to his research by offering numerous examples to support his views along with accompanying models that he has developed, there is not a lot of substance here. It might make sense for the reader to review one of the briefs written up about this book rather than taking the time to digest all of the material, although it is a quick read. The author defines integrative thinking as "the ability to face constructively 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". Quite frankly, one would think that such an approach is already a common route to take. Procter & Gamble chairman and CEO, A. G. Lafley, is quoted by the author at the start of chapter two as saying that "everybody can do 'or'...you are not going to win if you are in a trade-off game", but regardless of what decision is made, is not one still making an 'or' decision? Of course. The old adage that indicates that one is still making a choice regardless of whether it is a conscious one still applies. It is possible that much of what is being discussed here is the difference of thinking between right-brained thinkers, left-brained thinkers, and what Marti Olsen Laney refers to as "bilateral dominance" in "The Introvert Advantage" (see my review). Is it true that heavily left-brained thinkers are still dominant in business leadership? It would be interesting to hear what Martin has to say on this topic. Unlike other reviewers, I give credit to Martin for giving some thought to his graphical depiction of the thinking process model that progresses through stages of salience, causality, architecture, and resolution, although the names of the stages might be a bit too abstract for some readers. In my opinion, the author's discussion of "reality" is probably one of the best aspects of this book. Martin states that "models are our customized understanding of reality", and he does a good job at introducing examples into the discussion that explain his point that "we filter the data that besieges us in part to protect our brains". Again, the material presented really is not new, but the explanation is well-crafted. The second half of the book concentrates on mapping a personal knowledge system model for the reader, and is a bit more interesting. The philosophy of Bob Young, co-founder and former CEO of Red Hat, is shared through several quotes in chapter five. "There is always more than one way to succeed in any given situation...whatever we adopt as our first answer is bound to be wrong." In addition, "customers are not always right...customers lie or they are wrong". After a brief discussion of the contrasts between engineers and salespeople during the early days of the Internet, Young contributes some of the best content to the book. "Don't think you're any good...and don't get defensive about it. It's not something to be embarrassed by, because the odds are no one else is any good either. That's the big secret. That's what's behind the curtain - no one else is any good." Young goes on to say that getting "a little bit better tomorrow" is how to slowly progress from good to excellent. "That's all it takes, is just this commitment not to be defensive. Don't worry about criticism, because you're not any good, so criticism is always valid". Martin then offers a discussion of sensitivities and skills, which leads up to a graphical depiction of "your personal knowledge system" that shows the flow between stance, tools, and experiences. Stances of the integrative thinker share six key attributes, the first of which is their belief that "whatever models exist at the present moment do not represent reality; they are simply the best or only constructions yet made". Reaching the stance about oneself that one is "capable of finding a better model" is also important. Three tools to create a new model, generative reasoning, causal modeling, and assertive inquiry are then discussed. The last chapter of the book discusses how humans have an inclination to accumulate experiences that reinforce the stance and tools with which they start. However, experiences also in turn influence stance and tools, and can deepen mastery, although "experiences do not necessarily deepen mastery". It would seem that Martin would agree with Gerald M. Weinberg's statement in "More Secrets of Consulting: The Consultant's Tool Kit" (see my review) that "experience is not just the best teacher, it's the only teacher. Experience may be the only teacher, but it doesn't necessarily teach anything". If you don't have time to read the entire book, chapter eight on experience is well recommended.
 Opposable Thought June 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In other words, playing all sides until a leader gets the result they are looking for. A fantastic book. Very enjoyable and mind bending.
 Poor Model of Thought With No Justification May 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This books starts off by presenting the concept of the "integrative thinker", which is a person who has "the predisposition and capacity to hold two diametrically opposing 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"
If you look closely at this and read the examples in the book of the "opposable mind" in action, you'll begin to notice an assumption that we have no reason to believe is true.
The Main Assumption:
Focusing on the two (or more) alternatives leads to the third alternative chosen.
There is no reason to believe that the managers in the situations in this book developed further possibilities and alternatives from the apparent existing possibilities and alternatives. In most of the situations given as examples in the book, the managers appeared to be developing new possibilities out of a more fundamental knowledge of the situation at hand, rather than "integrating" and focusing on a few possible reactions to a situation.
I think that this book mainly serves as a red herring to those looking to develop creative thinking. Creative thinking is not linear as this book suggests. You typically don't develop the third alternative by focusing on the first two any more than you develop the second alternative by focusing on the first.
 Not much added to the newspaper review April 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book highlights that successful people often share the ability to hold two opposing ideas in their mind, and debate them, and then draw conclusions that are often novel. Not a new observation for sure, but interesting to explore. I bought this book after reading a review in the Financial Times (?). Unfortunately having read the book in full I concluded that there was little that was added to the review that stimulated me to buy the book in the first place. There are interesting examples of businesses described for sure, but many only marginally support the main thesis.
An absolutely needed recognition to the power of the human mind. March 30, 2008
Before we do anything in the reality, we always think, in a way or another, about the outcomes of what we are about to do, and that outcomes give our acts a reason. This book focus in thought, and how some people have developed and strikingly different way to think about their problems, that leads them to incredible achievements. That's the 'Opposable Mind', the capacity of building better solutions integrating two seemingly opposed ideas. I clearly recommend this book, because it really changes your way of thinking, letting you build solutions that you couldn't do before.
Because of the concrete focus, execution have been preferred over thinking, and many authors have written books about 'how to get the things done'. This book it's an accolade to the power that made us prevalent in the world, and a path to continue developing this capacity, the thinking ability.
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