Opposable Mind: Winning Through Integrative Thinking
By Roger L. Martin
Rating: 8
September 30, 2009
I really should’ve written this review closer to when I actually read it. I had many more thoughts then. But the impact of this book is still felt for me, since my organization is using it to help us wade through our complexities.
It’s a helpful book for organizations caught in a brawl between two divergent strategic options, offering a method to find a third way that is better than either. It proposes something called integrative thinking: “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” (Martin, 15). And it’s a great way to think.
Sure, the model is a bit clunky to use practically, but the admonishments in this book are clear, insightful and affirming for those who want to climb above the bray and see things a third way.
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