Creating Great Choices: A Leader's Guide to Integrative Thinking Hardcover – September 19, 2017

The book is well written and easy to understand. It will help you become a better integrative thinker. But the problem is that the people you are going to be dealing with are binary thinkers and the authors don't cover this which is the reality that most of us are going to have to deal with.I had given this book a 4 stars but after re-reading it slowly, I changed my mind and gave it 5 stars. It is an excellent book. Though I have some criticism of the book, but overall the book will make you think; hence, I changed it to 5 stars.To succeed both sides have to become integrative thinkers and that is very difficult. The book does not present any failed scenarios where it was not possible to come up with a solution. To be fair, the authors do mention that this is not going to work all the time. I think getting this type of thinking to work is an exception rather than a rule. I have tried this and you are more likely to fail than succeed and it can be very frustrating.The book needed to cover politics in more detail since that is where it is hard to come up with integrative thinking based solution, especially today with partisanship that exists. We will see if integrative thinking will prevail with the North Korean crisis. What I think makes this approach successful is where there is no "religion." As long as both sides are at one end of the 40-yard line then I think this approach works, but not if both sides are at their respective goal line. Then this approach is futile to try. The only solution then is war.People may not want to engage in this kind of thinking since it makes them look weak even though it would lead to a better long-term outcome. Not sure how you overcome that.But you should get this book so you can think better but don't expect miracles to happen because you are a better thinker. The people you are working with may not be thinking at all and you are going to be struck in the mud unless you want to teach them to become integrative thinkers or get them this book and hope they read it and understand it.

Conventional thinking in management over the last 50 years has focused on optimization - maximize profits, minimize costs, and so on. In the real world, in our anxiety to choose between polar opposites (centralization versus decentralization) we often end up with what Professor Roger Martin calls the "least-worst" decisions. Instead of treating every situation as an either-or phenomenon, we may derive superior results through integrative thinking - drawing on the best from seemingly opposing alternatives and creating a new way to address the problem on hand. With templates and examples to guide the reader, this is one of the rare books that you can start practicing immediately. I would rate this as one of the great books of the year.

Integrative thinking is a superb way of finding the right answer to complex problems. The book takes you through the process and methods to take the necessary steps to utilize this strategic way of problem solving. Apply it to problems you need to solve and for those you think you have solved but could make the solution better by challenging the final solution.

The whole idea of integrative thinking is both beautiful and simple: business presents more than either/or options if you know how to look. In refusing to accept binary choices, decision makers can begin to forge a third way using "abductive thinking." The book serves as a practical guide to what some see as a slippery subject: thinking. Riel and Martin hail from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, but their book should be mandatory reading in every b-school in the world. Our choices can be created, not merely accepted.

Good

Part of my lifelong learning journey

An excellent set of guidelines and a process for making better decisions. This is particularly effective when your assumption is that you are facing an either/or situation. The authors use peer-reviewed academic research and the wisdom of their consulting practice to offer a very practical way forward.One of my favorite quotes from the book: "We're interested in CREATING choices."

Have some tough work choices to make? This approach is wonderful. I’ve used it, and I’m really happy with how it guided the thinking and the choice.

Compre já

Ten years ago Roger Martin wrote The Opposable Mind (still a great read) that explained what Integrative Thinking is and who was good at it. Creating Great Choices by Riel and Martin is the how-to book of Integrative Thinking. The book guides you through some exercises that make you an Integrative Thinker. The 'Try This' pieces are fun. You'll finish up thinking smarter and better.

Recommended.

Excellent and thought-provoking book

Enjoyed the ideas and perspective.