Creating Great Choices: A Leader's Guide to Integrative Thinking

"Conventional wisdom--and business school curricula--teaches us that making trade-offs is inevitable when it comes to hard choices. But sometimes, accepting the obvious trade-off just isn't good enough: the choices in front of us don't get us what we need. In those cases, rather than choosing the least worst option, we can use the models in front of us to create a new and better answer. This is integrative thinking. First introduced by Roger Martin in The Opposable Mind, integrative thinking is an approach to problem solving that uses opposing ideas as the basis for innovation. Now, in Creating Great Choices, Martin and fellow Rotman expert Jennifer Riel vividly show how they have refined and enhanced the understanding and practice of integrative thinking through their work teaching the concept and its principles to business and nonprofit executives, MBA students, even kids. Integrative thinking has been embraced by organizations such as Procter & Gamble, Deloitte, Verizon, and the Toronto District School Board--all seeking a replicable, thoughtful approach to creating a "third and better way" to make important choices in the face of unacceptable trade-offs. The book includes new stories of successful integrative thinkers that will demystify the process of creative problem solving. It lays out the authors' practical four-step methodology, which can be applied in virtually any context: Articulating opposing models Examining the models Generating possibilities Assessing prototypes Stimulating and practical, Creating Great Choices blends storytelling, theory, and hands-on advice to help any leader or manager facing a tough choice"--
In this book for leaders and managers in all types of organizations, coauthor Roger Martin extends some of the ideas in his 2007 book The Opposable Mind to offer a four-step framework for creating alternative choices instead of settling for lose/lose trade-offs. The system of integrative thinking described draws ideas from the fields of behavioral decision making and design thinking. The first part of the book presents three chapters theory, with a primer on biases and heuristics, plus examples to explain why many conventional problem solving methods fail. Part 2 concentrates on practice, with exercises, decision-making templates, and examples from real-life business leaders and companies. B&w charts illustrate relationships between ideas and processes. Annotation ©2017 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
A practical four-step methodology for any leader or manager facing a tough choice, and for creating integrative solutions to big, complex and pressing problems.
Move Beyond Trade-Off ThinkingWhen it comes to our hardest choices, it can seem as though making trade-offs is inevitable. But what about those crucial times when accepting the obvious trade-off just isn't good enough? What do we do when the choices in front of us don't get us what we need? In those cases, rather than choosing the least worst option, we can use the models in front of us to create a new and superior answer. This is integrative thinking.First introduced by world-renowned strategic thinker Roger Martin in The Opposable Mind, integrative thinking is an approach to problem solving that uses opposing ideas as the basis for innovation. Now, in Creating Great Choices, Martin and his longtime thinking partner Jennifer Riel vividly illustrate how integrative thinking works, and how to do it.The book includes fresh stories of successful integrative thinkers that will demystify the process of creative problem solving, as well as practical tools and exercises to help readers engage with the ideas. And it lays out the authors' four-step methodology for creating great choices, which can be applied in virtually any context. The result is a replicable, thoughtful approach to finding a "third and better way" to make important choices in the face of unacceptable trade-offs.Insightful and instructive, Creating Great Choices blends storytelling, theory, and hands-on advice to help any leader or manager facing a tough choice.