Time For Integrative Thinking?

Roger Martin in The Opposable Mind studied how effective leaders deal with difficult choices.

The conclusions are summarized here, but in a nutshell, when confronted with apparent “either/or choices,” look for a third way.

Are there ways to reconfigure the problems and/or solutions to find an alternative, better choice that simply a or b?

This concept mirrors the Blue Ocean strategy approach wherein we are looking for alternative value propositions that are not just either “low cost leader” or “premium supplier.”  How else can we meet our customer’s needs? What do they really value – and can we provide that with a different feature/service set?

Old patterns of business have been disrupted. There will certainly be opportunities to better serve our customers in tomorrow’s post-pandemic environment.

Now is the time to rethink our business model, clarify our vision going forward, and realign our organization accordingly.

Still thinking,

Joel