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The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business by Robert Morris

The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business
Yorem (Jerry) Wind and Colin Crook
Wharton School Publishing

Wind and Crook are really onto something when asserting that what may seem to be a business opportunity is perceived to be either possible or impossible, depending upon the given thinker¹s mental model. In this brilliant book, they explain how to understand the power and limits of mental models; how to test the relevance of mental models against a changing environment, generate new models, and develop a ³portfolio² of models; how to overcome inhibitors to change by reshaping infrastructure and the thinking of others; and finally, how to transform one¹s world by acting quickly upon the new models, continuously experimenting and applying a process by which to assess and then strengthen one¹s mental models. Long ago, Henry Ford observed: ³Whether you think you can or think you canŒt, you¹re right.² I agree with Ford to an extent: Self-fulfilling prophecies are almost always based on a positive or negative attitude. Wind and Crook organize the material in this book as follows: Part 1: Recognize [and Understand] the Power and Limit of Mental Models; Part 2: Keeping Your Mental Models Relevant; Part 3: Transform Your World; Part 4: Act Quickly and Effectively; and then a Conclusion: What You Think Is What You Do. In the Appendix (The Neuroscience Behind Mental Models), one of the core concepts is that ³reality is a story the brain and the world work out together.² This is a variation on Lilly Tomlin¹s suggestion that reality is a ³collective hunch.² Wind and Crook are describing an on-going process which has four primary phases, each of which is examined in in one of the four Parts. The process is on-going in that, once the power and the limit(s) of mental models are fully understand, it is still necessary to ensure that one¹s own mental models remain relevant during efforts ³dismantle the old order² while finding common ground ³to bridge adaptive disconnects.² At every appropriate opportunity, as Wind and Crook carefully explain, it is imperative to be able to respond quickly and effectively. In Chapter 10, they discuss intuition and explain how to develop and enhance its capabilities. (Pages 181-186) Their discussion of ³creative leaps² reminds me of much of what Malcolm Gladwell has to say about intuition in Blink. Wind and Crook seem to agree with Gladwell that underdeveloped intuition is (at best) a ³lucky hunch² whereas developed intuition enables us to utilize talent, training, and (most important of all) experience to make appropriate decisions when we suddenly find ourselves in a life-threatening situation and must react. In Chapter 11, Wind and Cook explain how three celebrity CEOs demonstrate in their respective lives and careers ³the power of impossible thinking.² Howard Schultz formulated new concepts of coffee as a beverage and café as a social environment within which to consume it. Under his leadership, Starbucks continues with rigorous experimentation which challenges its business model (based on Schultz¹s mental models), constantly trying to ³stretch beyond the possible.² The Oprah Winfrey Show is a prime example of ³impossible thinking² in that Winfrey formulated a new mental model: She would interact with her audience as personal friends. The dialog was deliberately self-revealing as she discussed her own challenges and experiences, especially those which were personally unpleasant, at times deeply hurtful. ³She adopted a goal to Œtransform people¹s lives.¹ She changed the ways people thought about talk shows and about their own lives -- in effect, challenging their mental models.² With regard to Andy Grove, former chairman and CEO of Intel, he led and managed a huge global enterprise by preparing it for what he characterized as strategic inflection points: each reveals ³a mental map of the New World.² After absorbing and digesting the material in this book, many readers will then begin some impossible thinking about the business of their lives and the life of their businesses. They are strongly encouraged to take full advantage of the CD-ROM which accompanies the book. It consists of an audio summary and an interview with the authors.