The Power of Impossible Thinking
02 Sep 04

“Changing the world begins with changing our own thinking.” - Jerry Wind & Colin Crook

What could be holding back your progress in your work or personal life? It could be your own thinking. A new book from Jerry Wind, distinguished marketing professor from the Wharton School and former Citicorp CTO Colin Crook, demonstrates the far reaching implications of mental models in our work, businesses, personal lives and the world around us. The Power of Impossible Thinking offers a systematic process for recognizing, assessing and shifting our mental models to see emerging opportunities and threats in our work and personal lives. It addresses specific challenges in this process such as knowing when to change models, seeing paradigm shifts as a two-way street, dealing with complexity, harnessing intuition and changing the infrastructure and mindsets of others that reinforce the old model.

It features case studies of pioneers such as Howard Schultz, Oprah Winfrey and Andy Grove, who have been able to do the impossible because they were able to think the impossible. Athletes such as Roger Bannister, who ran the four-minute mile, show how breakthroughs of thought can lead to breakthroughs in action. Apple’s iTunes shouldered its way into the music business by seeing opportunities that record companies, locked in their narrow view of protecting intellectual property and suing their own customers, failed to act upon.

Drawing on current neuroscience and behavioural research, The Power of Impossible Thinking shows how malleable our minds truly are.

Widely endorsed, the book provides a systematic, practical approach for recognising, challenging and changing the mental models that inhibit new thinking.
Whether you wish to re-energise a company, keep ahead of the competition, recognize threats or tackle a personal issue, the way you utilise new and established mental models will have a profound impact on the result. This book provides a hands-on guide to this essential skill. The book features an innovative format with an audio summary and author interview included on a CD-ROM inside the back cover.

"Evidence of the power of impossible thinking is all around us - from the moving assembly line of Henry Ford to the revolutionary political thinking of America's founding fathers to today's biotech entrepreneurs. By challenging the status quo, my father turned an upstart magazine into one of the most successful business publications in the world. Impossible thinking is one of the hallmarks of successful pioneers in almost every field of human endeavor. In this book, Jerry Wind and Colin Crook lay out some of the principles that these path-breakers grasped intuitively. If you are locked down by narrow thinking in your work or life, this is a book that will open your mind. It will help you be able to see - and do - much more than you thought was possible."
- Steve Forbes, President and CEO of Forbes Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine

"This book addresses some of the central challenges of management: How do you make sense of your situation? How do you probe alternative realities? What is your mental model? Understanding these issues is critical to each of us and central to key decisions that shape our professional and personal lives. Jerry Wind and Colin Crook offer a much-needed process for probing these issues in a structured way."
- John S. Reed, Chairman, New York Stock Exchange, and former Chairman and CEO, Citigroup

"Estée Lauder was built by challenging the status quo thinking in cosmetics -- in using samples, multi-branding, globalization and many other innovations. Time and again, when people said it couldn't be done, we did it. In The Power of Impossible Thinking, Wind and Crook show you how to challenge your own thinking to recognize and act upon the hidden opportunities that are all around us. As one of the inaugural titles of Wharton School Publishing, it demonstrates the creativity, power and impact of this new publishing initiative. If you want to transform your thinking, your business and your life, read this book."
- Leonard Lauder, Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc

“This book offers a road map with a real set of attributes that can help us make the tough choices in a time of transition. I would put this book at the top of my ‘keeper’ list for those on the front lines of change management and mission accomplishment.”
- Lt. General (Ret.) USAF Kenneth A. Minihan

“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.”
- Nick Pudar, Director of Strategic Initiatives, General Motors

“ … a health spa for the executive brain.”
- Cathy L Greenberg, PhD, Executive Director, Institute for Strategic Leadership, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Published by Wharton School Publishing, August 2004. RRP £17.99 Click here for further information or to purchase.

To view our latest news releases, please click here.