The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking

by Roger L. Martin

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.1 —F. Scott Fitzgerald

to approach every business problem with the question, “What should I do?” is to foreclose options before they can even be explored.

You are not going to win if you are in a trade-off game.

Integrative thinking should not be confused with solo, heroic leadership. But it is leadership all the same.

“You can’t make a renaissance person anymore, because the range of what you would need to do is just impossible. But you could actually assemble a renaissance team.”

Excessive focus on the individual elements of a design problem, he argues, will detract from the overall solution that clients are seeking.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. —Confucius

It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows. —Epictetus (c. 55–c. 135)

STANCE ABOUT THE WORLD Existing models do not represent reality; they are our constructions. Opposing models are to be leveraged, not feared. Existing models are not perfect; better models exist that are not yet seen.

STANCE ABOUT SELF I am capable of finding a better model. I can wade into and get through the necessary complexity. I give myself the time to create a better model.