Power of Impossible Thinking, The: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business - Softcover

Wind, Yoram (Jerry); Cook, Colin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0131877283 ISBN 13: 9780131877283

Publisher: FT Press, 2006

Synopsis

50,000 copies sold, now in paperback... If you can think impossible thoughts, then you can do impossible things!!

• The power of change: create new thinking for new solutions!
• Includes a new introduction demonstrating the "power of impossible thinking," plus access to exclusive book summary and authors' interview at the book's companion Web site.

The Power of Impossible Thinking is about getting better at making sense of what's going on around you so you can make decisions that respond to reality, not inaccurate or obsolete models of the world. This bestseller reveals how mental models stand between you and the truth and how to transform them into your biggest advantage!  Learn how to develop new ways of seeing, when to change to a new model, how to swap amongst a portfolio of models, how to understand complex environments and how to do "mind R and D," improving models through constant experimentation.  Jerry Wind and Colin Crook review why it's so hard to change mental models and offer practical strategies for dismantling "hardened missile silos". Finally they show how to access models quickly through intuition, and assess the effectiveness of any mental model. Purchasers of this book gain access to audio summaries on a companion web site, along with a new half-hour interview with the authors.

About this title

Review:

The world you live in is all in your mind, according to Wharton Business School Professors Yoram Wind and Colin Crook. The Power of Impossible Thinking is a witty and lucid translation of neuroscience research about "mental models"--the deeply ingrained assumptions and images that shape our reality and influence opportunities for success and failure. "Our models are gated communities," say Crook and Wind, who offer a superb crash course on the power and limit of mental models.

The key questions: How do you know when an old model is worn out? How do you avoid "cognitive lock," filtering out information that conflicts with your model? How do you know a new model will live up to its hype? Many of the answers lie in "Mind R&D"--developing an inventory of new and old models and refining your intuition to fit your current reality. These engaging ideas are detailed with portraits of three impossible thinkers (Oprah Winfrey, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Intel's Andy Grove) and vivid examples (The music industry vs. Napster, a French fry cancer scare, O-rings on the Challenger). Wind and Crook make such a brilliant case for new ways of seeing that readers may wish for more coaching to recognize the obsolete models that keep us from changing our minds. --Barbara Mackoff

About the Author:

Yoram (Jerry) Wind is The Lauder Professor, Professor of Marketing, Founding Editor of Wharton School Publishing, and Academic Director of The Wharton Fellows Network at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Founder and Director of the SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management, The Wharton School's think tank. Wind led the development of a number of key Wharton programs including the reinvention of the Wharton MBA curriculum and the creation of the Wharton Executive MBA Program. Among his many affiliations is former chancellor, the International Academy of Management (IAM). One of the world's most cited marketing authors, his books include Driving Change: How the Best Companies Are Preparing for the 21st Century, and The Power of Impossible Thinking. Dr. Wind has served as an advisor to many Fortune 500 firms and non-U.S. multinationals throughout the financial services, pharmaceuticals, information, and consumer packaged goods industries, and as advisor and board member for a wide range of entrepreneurial ventures. His consulting focuses on global corporate and business strategy, corporate transformation, marketing strategy, and especially new business development. He is the recipient of all the major marketing awards. Wind received a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

 

Colin Crook is senior fellow of The Wharton School of the Universityof Pennsylvania, Advisory Board, member of Rein Capital, editorialboard member of the journal Emergence, and has served on numerousNational Academy committees and advisory groups. He has providedadvice to governments and businesses around the world, and is aFellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK). He was formerlyChief Technology Officer for Citicorp.

 

About this edition

• Publisher: FT Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0131877283
• ISBN 13: 9780131877283
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352