Book SummaryThe Opposable Mind, by Roger Martin

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Opposable Mind

What is it about the most successful leaders that lets them solve problems that other people find intractable? Do they possess some innate quality that helps them chart a course through the chaos of business and politics where others have a hard time making headway? In The Opposable Mind, published in 2009, Roger L. Martin says the key to their success is integrative thinking—the ability to consider two opposing ideas and create a solution from the best parts of both.

Most business experts focus on leaders’ ability to strategically execute their plans, but Martin argues that understanding leaders’ thought processes is more valuable than simply copying what they do. Martin points out that actions that work in one context may fail in another, which is why it’s more important to understand the underlying thought process that led to those decisions in the first place. To do that, Martin interviewed successful leaders from multiple fields, and he found that while they came from diverse backgrounds, they shared a similar approach to problem-solving—one that can be taught to others.

Martin is a business researcher and strategist who served as the Dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management from 1998 to 2013. Martin's experience in business consulting has informed his work on strategy and...

The Opposable Mind Summary How to Think

Aspiring leaders in today’s business world have to mentally navigate the intricacies of technology, politics, and organizational management. Martin reiterates that you can master the skills that the most effective leaders use if you’re willing to examine and adjust your thinking process. To teach integrative thinking (or mental integration), Martin introduces the three key components of effective leaders’ thought processes—a useful set of beliefs about the world (which Martin calls your “stance”), a set of mental methods for generating new ideas, and the ability to apply past experience (“knowledge”) in new ways to solve unfamiliar problems.

(Shortform note: Martin isn’t the only author to delve into the thought process of successful leaders. In Leadershift, John C. Maxwell addresses the mindset changes leaders need to develop so they can keep up in the modern business world. Whereas Martin’s focus is largely introspective—what’s going on in a leader’s mind—Maxwell’s view is somewhat external in that he says [leaders should be...

The Opposable Mind Summary How to Make Decisions

Now that we’ve elucidated the patterns of thinking that innovative leaders use, the question is how to put those skills into practice. Martin divides decision-making into three components—determining what information is important, exploring the ways that different factors relate to each other, and then merging the best aspects of different possible solutions. All the while, integrative thinkers acknowledge their perspectives’ limitations and the complexity of the problems they face.

Gather Important Information From All Sides

When faced with complex problems, necessity requires that we ignore most of the data and focus on whichever elements seem most pertinent. This selective attention shapes how we frame situations, but Martin says you must still gather data from multiple points of view. As stated earlier, different people arrive at different conclusions based on their particular sets of mental filters. These filters don’t just guide your judgments, but also what information you choose to ignore. For instance, sports fans often disagree on penalty calls because they disregard information that doesn’t support their preferred outcome. Therefore, when making important...

Shortform Exercise: How Can You Employ Integrative Thinking?

Martin argues that for strong decision-making, you need to value perspectives that are different from your own, use your experience to fuel original ideas, and look for solutions that address the whole problem, not just one of its parts. Think about situations in your life where you may have already adopted these techniques or where you might have succeeded if you had.

Describe a situation in which you learned that your perspective on events was flawed or slanted in some way. How quickly did you come to that realization? Is there a way that you could have found out sooner?