A revolutionary mind, a revolutionary approach, and a revolutionary science

I was confused to find out that I am a champion of private property while at the same time I truly support open source and believe it will be the overarching practice in the future. My thoughts led me to a book recommendation I had gotten recently. “The Opposable Mind” by Roger Martin gives clues to a lot of questions about topics spanning contradictory and very opposing motifs in nature. The ability of the mind to hold two opposing ideas at the same time and use them concurrently is one of the most fascinating capabilities humans have developed.

I think Roger Martin, the Dean of Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto, is a revolutionary in his thinking and would truly refer to him as the father of integrative thinking. In his book “The Opposable Mind” he features innovators such as Procter & Gamble chief AG Lafley, choreographer Martha Graham, and Red Hat co-founder Bob Young, who utilize the approach of using the constructive tension from two conflicting ideas to "think [their] way through to a new and superior idea." I have been fascinated by this typically North American approach of integrating various tools to understand, analyze and assess business.  While disintegrating a problem into its parts and solving it might be an optimal way for a lot of people, I believe the holistic approach is the right one for many reasons.

First of all, as a business leader you come up with many options, you face challenges which require decision- making. That is especially relevant for the field of change and transformation management, in which I worked.  So instead of choosing one model, you design a new one spanning previous ones and even maybe contradictory ones at first sight.

Secondly, integrative thinking according to Martin “does typically involve a predictable cascade of four interrelated steps that constitute a heuristic process.” And heuristics is the underlying approach of behavioral economics, a field which might explain a lot of ideas about the not so rational human mind. Through the behavioral finance approach one can explain aspects of the financial crisis which led to the bankruptcy of many giants in the investment banking industry and the downturn in the world economy.  Why would mortgage lenders provide loans to everyone who would know on their doors?  Why would financial institutions bundle and repackage risk-obscuring financial instruments including collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)?The counterintuitive nature of those decisions implies the necessity of cultivating a counterintuitive stance, based on a heuristic and integrated approach. For more than 2 decades, researchers in behavioral finance have sought out the signatures of human irrationality in markets. “Behavioral finance is an intellectual revolution that tries to give a broader perspective from multiple social sciences,” including psychology and sociology, says Shiller, a founder of the field. (Crazy Money, www.sciencemag.org) 

Third, the integrative stance stimulates creativity and the perfection of brand new skills as the central value is placed on learning. Roger Martin and Hilary Austen write in The Art of Intergrative Thinking , “It embodies tolerance for the temporary incompetence that comes with the development of new skills.”

Martin’s ingenuity definitely motivates my respect for him and while I can be a straightforward spokesperson and an ardent critic, I can only say I am truly fascinated by the mind called Roger Martin.

With his expertise in areas of integrative thinking, global competitiveness, business design, and corporate citizenship, Martin makes the perfect example of a (business) leader of the future. That is why I believe an interesting reading on my list would be the one he coauthored with Mihnea C. Moldoveanu, “The Future of the MBA: Designing the Thinker of the Future”.