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

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

Tools

Experiences

• 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

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

Tools

Experiences

• 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