Thought Leadership: Moving Hearts and Minds

121 Pages·2007·0.531 MB·English

by  Robin Ryde (auth.)

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Moving Hearts and Minds
Robin Ryde
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
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THOUGHT
LEADERSHIP
Moving Hearts and Minds
Robin Ryde
© Robin Ryde 2007
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-0-230-52551-1
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
First published 2007 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom
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ISBN 978-1-349-35771-0 ISBN 978-0-230-20661-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230206618
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This book is dedicated to Jackson and his grandparents
I would like to thank Sue Duncan for keeping me on the straight
and narrow and leaving me with no excuses to give up writing this
book. With special thanks to Lisa, who has brought inspiration,
support, and profound questions that have often stopped me in my
tracks. This book is considerably better for it. Thanks.
Additional thanks go to the following people who have shaped,
supported and made an invaluable contribution to this book
(they may not know it but they have): Henry Broughton,
Chuck Dymer, Rob Fisher, Steve Mcguirk, Cathy Preece,
Rob Reynolds, Chris Rodgers, Kath Way, and all the participants of
the Top Management Programme
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Contents
List of Tables viii
Introduction ix
Two Ways to Read This Book x
1 Thinking on Autopilot 1
Like raindrops on a windowpane 1
A bleak summary 32
The production and shaping of thinking habits 33
2 Switching Controls to Manual 40
Board meetings on the beach 40
Put thinking habits on your radar 41
Prepare the way for transformational thinking 44
Trigger the right thinking channel 54
3 Moving Hearts and Minds 69
A much broader repertoire 70
Changing channels 83
Replacing Sticky Thinking with Exit Thinking 99
The real job of leadership 103
Notes 107
References 108
Index 109
vii
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Standard thinking repertoire
Table 1.2 Illustration of Sticky Thinking
Table 1.3 Typical characterizations of binary problems/possibilities
Table 1.4 T he equity principle as viewed from different perspectives
Table 1.5 An illustration of key triggers and shapers of Sticky
Thinking
Table 1.6 An illustration of the factors that trigger the deployment
of different thinking styles
Table 2.1 C ommon thinking channels
Table 2.2 F our features of a high quality social thinking environment
Table 2.3 Ingredients of fi ery thinking propositions
Table 3.1 Dominant thinking channels
Table 3.2 Dominant and shadow thinking channels
Table 3.3 C hannel fl ipping – Defi cit Thinking and Strength-Based
Thinking
Table 3.4 Trigger questions for shadow thinking channels
Table 3.5 Illustration of channel hopping addressing development
of competency frameworks
Table 3.6 Particular qualities possessed by thinking channels
Table 3.7 A continuum of thinking channels from proven ideas to
breakthrough ideas
Table 3.8 Illustrative binary positions of customer fi rst vs.
employee fi rst
Table 3.9 A simple checklist for leading meetings
Table 3.10 Pick list of twelve techniques to keep thinking on track
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Introduction
Leadership and organizational change starts with thinking. Thinking
about problems, thinking about possibilities, and thinking about
capabilities.
But thinking never occurs in a vacuum. Long gone are the days
when a chief executive offi cer would disappear for weeks with a towel
over his head only to reappear to announce ‘the answer’ to the
organization. Thinking is of course a social activity that sees people
coming together to develop and share ideas. People are authors of the
world they live in and not passive recipients.
Conversations are the forums within which thinking is developed.
They are the crucible within which ideas are made and adopted. The
job of leadership is to use the process of social thinking to produce
excellent ideas and to bring about change where needed.
Anyone interested in change or leadership needs to understand
what is going on in the thinking process. Why, for example, meetings
rarely achieve what they set out to. Why thinking conversations have
a horrible sense of déjà vu. Why sometimes when people come
together great things happen and on other occasions it seems like a
shocking waste of time, money, and energy. Why discussions about
change always seem to end in resistance and worry.
To shift the way people think and feel is easy. But it requires an
understanding of how thinking habits draw discussions along unseen
channels. It requires an understanding of the trajectory that different
thinking habits follow. And above all it requires leaders at every level
to become masters of the social thinking process. Conversation and
what we say to one another is the basis of all leadership and change.
This book provides a blueprint of how we can move hearts and minds
and create incredible results along the way.
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