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

This book is about getting better at making sense of the world...so you can make decisions that respond to reality, not some obsolete model of reality.

Drawing on the latest neuroscientific research and their experience with corporate transformations, 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.

You'll learn how to develop new ways of seeing...how to keep your mental models fresh and relevant...when to change to a new model...how to build a portfolio of models...and improving your models through constant experimentation.

Better mental models = smarter decisions

Understand what's real, so you can act on it

How people get "stuck," and what to do about it

How obsolete mental models keep you from making changes

The neuroscience of mental models

What scientists can teach us about perception–and reality

Creating new models

Practical ways to see things in new ways–fast

"Wind and Crook have written a marvelous book that can teach you how to think more effectively in personal and business settings. Read it and learn!"

Drea Zigarmi
Author of The Leader Inside: Learning Enough About Yourself To Lead Others and co-author of Leadership and the One Minute Manager

"We like to say, 'See it with your mind's eye.' Wind and Crook show us that our mind is our eye. What we think is what we see, and what we see directs how we act. Not only do the authors make this paradigm clear, but they offer concrete and practical ways to change our mind's eye and as a consequence change our actions and the results we get. The value of that is hard to top."

J. Stewart Black, Ph.D.
co-author of Leading Strategic Change
and Professor, University of Michigan Business School

"I have been trying to explain why Japan has fallen into a pitfall and cannot come out of even the simplest problems. One can call it an innovators dilemma, but that does not solve the problem. This book suggests we have to go back to the basics of reviewing our underlying 'mental models' now and then, and only then, have to construct a new model, perhaps plural, and move onto exploring the new terrain."

Kenichi Ohmae
Author of the international bestseller, The Borderless World

"While most of us may recognize that the world we respond to is more in our mind than in any physical reality, often we don't have a clue why this is so. This very important book clearly explains how our mental models work to construct these distinct inner worlds. And more importantly it offers empowering advice on how we can use this knowledge to work for us rather than against us in creating a better outer world for ourselves, our organizations, and our societies."

Charles C. Manz
Best-selling author of SuperLeadership, Fit to Lead, and Temporary Sanity

"This is an important book that 'makes sense of how we make sense.' The authors provide a thorough, fresh, and compelling exploration into the dimensions of mental models. All leaders who want to be more effective in their actions would be served well to leverage the principles in this book to learn about how they think and make sense of the world around them."

Nick Pudar
Director of Strategic Initiatives, General Motors

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 University of Pennsylvania, Advisory Board member of Rein Capital, editorial board member of the journal Emergence and has served on numerous National Academy committees and advisory groups. He has provided advice to governments and businesses around the world, and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK). He was formerly Chief Technology Officer for Citicorp.