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The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business | 
 enlarge | Authors: Jerry Wind, Colin Crook, Robert Gunther
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy Used: $0.71
You Save: $25.28 (97%)
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Rating:  62 reviews
Sales Rank: 270348
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0131425021
Dewey Decimal Number: 650.1
UPC: 076092024484
EAN: 9780131425026
ASIN: 0131425021
Publication Date: July 22, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com 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
Product Description
How often have we heard: "You can do anything once you set your mind to it," or "It's all in the way you look at it." This book helps readers unleash the straitjacket of your current thinking and unleash your potential with powerful new mental models so you can do the seemingly impossible! Jerry Wind and Colin Crook explain how your mental models stand between you and reality, distorting all your perceptions...and how they create both limits and opportunities. Next, they show how to keep your models relevant and fresh. You'll 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 "zoom in and out" to understand complex environments; and how to do "mind RD" -- improving your models through constant experimentation. Wind and Crook tell why it's so hard to change mental models, and offer practical strategies for dismantling the "hardened missile silos" that are your old and obsolete models. Finally, they show how to access models quickly through intuition, and help you assess the effectiveness of any mental model.With profiles on Howard Schultz, Oprah Winfrey and Andy Grove the authors provide real examples of their ideas in action. Simply put, this is the first "hands-on" guide to enhancing your mental models: the key to breakthrough success in business -- and in life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 57 more reviews...
 The only paradigm for problem solving is logic June 9, 2007
D. Smith (Darien, CT)
This is an interesting book and might be implemented more effectively by readers who have also read "The logic of Failure," by Dietrich Doerner, which itself was a business bestseller in the 1990s.
Doerner's main thesis is that there are patterns of thought that make failure inevitable, and he runs through a number of entertaining case studies documenting how faulty problem-solving paradigms have resulted in disaster. Doerner also notes that cures for the inability to handle complex situations typically rely on facile theories about the human brain, and that the probability that there is a secret mental trick that at one stroke will enable the human mind to solve complex problems is practically zero.
The psychological determinants of failure go far deeper than faulty mental models or paradigms, and they develop gradually according to a predictable logic. A reader concerned about evaluating the effectiveness of mental models or paradigms will gain much from reading "The Logic of Failure."
 A toolkit for shifting your paradigm May 27, 2006
Philip Weiss (Brussels, Belgium, Europe)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a great combination of theoritical thinking as well as practical business problems. It examines the discussion on paradigms - which the authors prefer to call 'mental models' and how they constrain your perception of reality. So far, so good. Then they start outlining a practical methodology for changing your mental model, which should enable you to 'think impossible thoughts' meaning in this context, thinking thoughts that were impossible in your previous paradigm. I like the depth of research behind the concept and the academic structure given to the book on a subject that has been much discussed, but manages to give it a new perspective and some practical tools to take away with you.
I spoke with the author and have published extracts of the interview on the HyperThinker Experiment site, so please check it out if you want to hear more from the author himself: http://www.hyperthinker.com/Currentinterviews/tabid/693/Default.aspx.
A worthwhile read and a fascinating look at an issue that affects us all.
 The power of viewing and molding your reality... April 16, 2006
Thomas Duff (Portland, OR United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's often the case that our vision of reality is a product of our own mental biases. If you can change the way you look at something, the reality of it can undergo a dramatic shift. This whole subject is explored very well in the book The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business by Jerry Wind, Colin Crook, and Robert Gunther. Very powerful stuff...
Contents:
Part 1 - Recognize The Power And Limits Of Mental Models: Our Models Define Our World; Running The Miracle Mile
Part 2 - Keeping Your Models Relevant: Should You Change Horses?; Paradigm Shifts Are A Two-Way Street; Seeing A New Way Of Seeing; Sift For Sense From Streams Of Complexity; Engage In R&D Of The Mind
Part 3 - Transform Your World: Dismantle The Old Order; Find Common Ground To Bridge Adaptive Disconnects
Part 4 - Act Quickly And Effectively: Develop The Intuition To Act Quickly; The Power To Do The Impossible; Challenging Your Own Thinking - Personal, Business, and Society; What You Think Is What You Do; The Neuroscience Behind Mental Models; Selected Bibliography; Acknowledgments; Index; On The Audio CD
This is one of those rare "business books" that can be applied effectively to both your business and your personal life. The authors examine how our mindsets of situations and events cause us to build our own "reality" about them. The opening example is about how you're walking along a dark street and you hear footsteps behind you. You know the neighborhood recently had a well-publizied crime happen. You're sure that you're about to be the next victim. Fight or Flight... Then you turn and find it's one of your co-workers. The reality of the situation never altered, but "your" reality of the situation has completely changed. These "mental models" are then explored in various realms of business and personal life. For instance, Howard Schultz viewed Starbucks through a completely different mental filter than those who were running the operation. Rather than seeing the company as a seller of coffee, he saw the potential for a complete experience surrounding the act of ordering and drinking coffee. He had to leave the company, start his own operation around that model, and then buy out Starbucks once his vision showed signs of success. The same business environment was open to both Schultz and the owners, but they saw the "reality" in completely different ways...
This is one of the better books I've read that deals with the subject of neuroscience. But rather than just giving examples and citing research, the authors show how this research can be applied to your life in ways that can make a dramatic difference. If you've never explored the "science of the mind", this is a great introduction anchored in practical use. And this might just be the spark that causes you to change the way you look at things, thereby changing your life in ways that seem completely impossible right now...
We Should Invest In Our Mind's R & D April 13, 2006
K. Johnson (US/Asia)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"The Power of Impossible Thinking" is labelled as a "business book" and it's very hopeful for those in business, both big and small. But it has tremendous value to everyone, in every aspect of our lives. Our "mental models" determine where we'll go and what we'll do and accomplish, throughout our lives. And, our mental models can limit us in our lives as well. One of the focuses is on the thought process, as it should be. Our thought process is often what hinders us. This book reminded me many times of the perils of stagnation. Mental and attitudinal stagnation. This leads to the oft-times subtle downward spiral of complacency, and just plain getting too comfortable.
The "Power of Impossible Thinking" provides practical and do-able models for the contemporary times we live in. This book is divided into 4 sections: a) The importance of mental models and how they help and hurt us b) how to keep models current and know when to alter or change them, and continuously experiment c) obstacles and ways to over come them, and d) develop intuition and act, concluded by "What You Think Is What You Do."
Two chapters specifically help readers sharpen our mental models and use our perceptions to help us in our lives. What we perceive we can do, and what we actually do, depends on our attitude and perceptions: we bring our own baggage with us. Critical, is recognizing things that keep us in our old models and patterns. When we recognize this, we can change it (chapter 8). Professionally, we are constantly inundated by information. Competition is ever-present, 24 hours a day. Our mental ability to recognize and then act upon change seems more important than ever today. Obviously we are surrounded by constant changes in the interdependent global market place. As the world constantly alters and adapts, we must as well. Recognizing the trends and changes is what is needed to survive and prosper. Examples from the emergence and decline of the dot.coms were noted. So many companies jumped onto the dot.com bandwagon, but there was a purge, and the ones that survived and now prosper, are the ones that adapted and continued to alter their products and services: they recognized the change. Many did not, and went out of business. The Internet has highly become a "mail order" pathway, for viewing and ordering many products.
One way to deal with this among many in this book:
Zooming in and Zooming out:
As multi-tasking becomes more common-place and the market and lifestyle pace increases, the concept of "zooming in and zooming out" is one concept that can make our personal and professional lives easier, more-fulfilling, and more productive. "Zooming in and out" addresses the need to overcome obstacles that now make our our world difficult. These obstacles have always existed for humans. The ability to focus and address details - without letting them bog us down and/or cause us to lose sight of our over-all objectives.
Three contemporary case studies were conducted on people we are familiar with. Oprah Winfrey, Howard Schulz of Starbucks Coffee, and Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel. All of these people created a product(s). These were created from ideas. This may sound cliche, but it's the way it is. Starbucks: the unique coffee (consumer) experience. Who in the world would think this would work back in the early 1990s? I honestly didn't. Oprah: transforming the influence of the Talk Show by positivity, individuality, over-coming obstacles and awareness. Apple, moving to the ipod.
Oprah Winfrey's case study was quite powerful and moving. She grew up in poor, rural Mississippi, without indoor water and electricity. Raised by her grandmother initially. Abused by male friends and family, and sent to a juvenile detention center at 13. At the start of her career as a co-anchor, she was told she didn't have the looks. The case study reinforces the idea that she became what she's become, not by following or conforming to the mold, but by breaking it. Her Book Club and talk show focus on themes of individuality, empowerment, and achievement.
The "Power of Impossible Thinking" is a contemporary and highly relevant book. It's neuro-science approach tells us how to identify our outdated models, recognize the limits of them, and the benefits and power of changing and utilizing new models. This is a great book that deserves more attention.
Awesome! March 16, 2006
Larry Colby (Buffalo, NY)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Excellent book! These guys have it together. This book provides new ways of thinking and troubleshooting problems. If you are in the decision making and problem solving arena, you need this read to help come up with a solution.
Larry
www.corpsdevelopment.net
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