Think in Whole Terms Rather than Parts

This past weekend was a wonderful time to spend with family, relax, and reflect rather than work. But like many of you, I couldn’t help but catch up on reading materials that were beginning to overflow in an office corner.

The article, How Successful Leaders Think, in the June edition of Harvard Business Review, was worth my time. Its focus is this: extract the best ideas from two opposing thoughts to create a smarter solution than proposed in the initial ideas.

It is this discipline - not superior strategy or faultless execution - that is the defining characteristic of most exceptional businesses and the people who run them.

The author, Roger Martin, terms this decision making as integrative thinking. He interviewed 50 leaders to forge his argument.

This multi-page article is well worth your time, providing examples of how and why this whole-brain thinking technique works. You’ll remember the pivotal points the next time you are faced with a problem and its potential solutions.

It like the fact that the information encourages you to think about a problem or situation in totality rather than break it into pieces. I think it’s a great option for problem solving and believe you’ll think the same after reading this insightful text.

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