The Power of Impossible Thinking
An easily understandable explanation of how our brain works and of the consequences on how to develop our innovation and change capacity.
Author(s): Jerry Wind, Colin Crook, Robert Gunther
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing
Date of publication: 2004
Manageris opinion
This book invites us to go back to the source of innovation and change by explaining how our brains work. Although this type of explanation could easily become too scientific and remote from the world of business, this is certainly not the case here. The book keeps its feet solidly on the ground with numerous examples from the world of business, sports and politics. The structure also enables readers to jump directly to a given chapter without having to read the whole book in order.
– For a rapid perusal, start with chapter 4. This chapter is a must-read, because it very clearly explains how our brains give meaning to our environment using mental models. To explore this subject in greater depth, refer to chapter 16, which expands upon certain neuroscience concepts.
– The problem with these models is that they limit our vision of what is possible, as chapters 5 and 6 clearly show with many examples. The ability to change our mental models at times is therefore important.
– To develop creativity, many interesting tips can be found in chapter 8, where the authors suggest different methods to break with routine. Chapter 9 opens new perspectives on how to give meaning to the fantastic amount of information that bombards us.
– For those who hesitate between radical change and the status quo, chapter 7 offers a third option. The authors show how our need for certainty sometimes causes us to reject old models too hastily. To the contrary, they incite us to exercise prudence in showing many examples of how the old and the new can continue to function together for much longer and much more frequently than one would think.
– Chapter 10 can be covered much more rapidly. It invites us to treat our models as assumptions to test, rather than as immutable truths. Although idea is intriguing, the book could have offered more concrete suggestions on this point.
– The final chapters of the book develop tangible applications of these concepts. We found the chapter on intuition (chapter 13) to be particularly interesting, as well as the chapter that explains how to communicate with other people who, by definition, have different mental models from our own (chapter 12).
