An interesting article appeared in today’s The New York Times about how business schools are changing to accommodate broader thinking. The article references the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and its dean Roger Martin. I encourage you to read Roger Martin’s books and articles to learn more about integrative thinking.
Peter Drucker was an excellent example of an integrative thinker. It’s why his ideas were typically decades ahead of the crowd. Although his work focused on leadership and organizations, the breakthrough insights he developed were frequently integrated from other domains including history, psychology and sociology. During Drucker’s life many in the academy criticized his approach. Rotman and Roger Martin, however, embraced Drucker. And Drucker recognized the importance of the thinking that was being developed at Rotman and said so in this presentation.
So often, management decisions are based on the myopic thinking of a few like-minded individuals in positions of power and influence rather than drawn from the thinking of individuals with diverse perspectives, experiences and thinking styles. The developing fields of integrative thinking and design thinking will hopefully broaden the managerial mindset and result in better thinking and decision making.
[In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve spoken at Rotman and at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Management, which is also referenced in the article. The Connection Culture I write and speak about draws upon aspects of design thinking and integrative thinking.]
