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Integrative Thinking & Sustainability
2007 Top 100 Employer SummitMarch 22, 2007
Jim FisherVice-Dean, CCMF Chair in Entrepreneurship, Rotman School of Management
Professor Emeritus at Stanford University
A leading thinker on organizational learning
We live in an ambiguous world:
“Fuzziness”
Causal inconsistencies
We cope with ambiguity through simplification and
specialization
Explanations: James March
Experiences in Action
Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School
And Not Or
What is Integrative Thinking?
"The ability to face constructively the tension of opposing models and instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, to generate
a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new model that contains elements
of the individual models but is superior to each."
~ Rotman School of Management (2005)
Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels
The intimacy
and comfort of a
boutique hotel
Competing Models
The range of
amenities of a
large hotel
Vs.
The medium-sized luxury hotel with intimacy and amenities funded by a massive price premium
The medium-sized luxury hotel with intimacy and amenities funded by a massive price premium
Creative Resolution
Vs.
Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels
Competing Models
The intimacy
and comfort of a
boutique hotel
The range of
amenities of a
large hotel
A Personal Knowledge System
Stance Stance
ToolsTools
ExperiencesExperiences
• Who am I in the world and
what am I trying to
accomplish?
• With what tools and
models do I organize my
thinking and understand
the world?
• With what experiences can I build my
repertoire of sensitivities and skills?
Guides
Informs
Guides
Informs
1. What I see is only a model of reality
2. Opposing models give a different view of reality
3. Better models exist that are not yet seen
4. I am capable of using different models to find a better model
5. I look for and wade into the necessary complexity
6. I give myself time to create and develop a new insight before proceeding
Conventional versus Integrative Stance
1. I can see and understand the true reality
2. Opposing views are not reality and are therefore wrong
3. No better model exists because I am looking at reality
4. Where opposing views exist, one view must be crushed
5. I must simplify and specialize to avoid unnecessary complexity
6. I must act quickly and decisively
Conventional Stance Integrative Stance
Victoria Hale, One World Health
Traditional for-
profit
pharmaceutical
model
Not-for-profit pharmaceutical company witha focus on third-world health
Not-for-profit pharmaceutical company witha focus on third-world health
Creative Resolution
Traditional
public health
model
Vs.
Competing Models
Victoria Hale on Complexity
I wade into and get through the necessary complexity
A Personal Knowledge System
Stance Stance
ToolsTools
ExperiencesExperiences
• Who am I in the world and
what am I trying to
accomplish?
• With what tools and
models do I organize my
thinking and understand
the world?
• With what experiences can I build my
repertoire of sensitivities and skills?
Guides
Informs
Guides
Informs