Strategic Thinking and the New Science: Planning in the Midst of Chaos Complexity and Change [Hardcover]

T. Irene Sanders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 1998

The future is happening today, and the most successful organisations will be those that understand the dynamics of the "big picture" in which their decisions are being made. This book describes how to understand and influence that picture. Irene Sanders pioneered the application of chaos theory and complexity to strategic thinking - the most essential skill in today's fast-paced business environment. Now, in this straightforward, easy-to-read book, she shows how the most up-to-date strategic thinking is done, and how you can begin using it in your enterprise.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A decade ago, James Gleick helped popularize the concept of chaos theory with Chaos: The Making of a New Science (1987). Prior to that, the concept had largely been the province of mathematicians, but Gleick showed broader applications for the idea that systems behave in orderly ways in spite of seemingly random--and chaotic--individual events. And, indeed, investors, meteorologists, economists, astronomers, and biologists have all incorporated chaos theory into the models they construct. Others have even seen applications for management theory, and Margaret Wheatley's Leadership and the New Science (1992) explored organizational behavior from the point of view of chaos. Now Sanders, a consultant who has worked with corporations, not-for-profit organizations, and even congressional committees, has developed a new model of strategic thinking, based on chaos and complexity, that breaks down the process into two components: insight about the present and foresight about the future. Both of these require "visual thinking," and she has developed a tool called "FutureScape" that facilitates such thinking. Here she explains her model and demonstrates the application of her method. David Rouse

Review

An eye-opening account of how an awareness of chaos can enter practical decision making. -- Edward N. Lorenz, Professor Of Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology

Having worked with and greatly admired Irene Sanders, I am intrigued by her new model for strategic thinking. She has taken an original approach to an ongoing challenge: How to plan for the future in a world that is changing rapidly and more interconnected than ever before. -- Sam Nunn, Partner, King & Spalding, former U.S. Senator

Ron J. Anderson, M.D. President and CEO, Parkland Health & Hospital System This book should be in the toolbox of all the leaders of complex health care organizations. Sanders' application of chaos theory will be helpful to leaders of institutions that must work in communities where change is the only constant and where continuous adaptation, anticipation, and visualization of unseen patterns are necessary prerequisites for effective leadership and stewardship. -- Review

This useful book is a welcome reminder that forecasting is not foresight, and that the best-laid plans mean little without understanding the web of relationships in which they must be enacted. -- Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School, Author of Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers Of Management

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1St Edition edition (May 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684842688
• ISBN-13: 978-0684842684
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #750,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Futurescaping you learn will be worth more than the book, March 14, 2001

By 

Lee Say Keng "KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURER/TECHNOLOGY... (Ho Chi Minh City/Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strategic Thinking and the New Science: Planning in the Midst of Chaos Complexity and Change (Hardcover)

Many years ago, in the late 80's, I read James Gleick's Chaos: Making a New Science book. I was not enlightened very much. A couple of years ago, I read Margaret Wheatley's Leadership & The New Science, and also A Simpler Way. I got a much better picture of the subject, and I began to take an earnest interest in the New Science. I read a few other authors' books but they did not strike a common chord with me, although they fueled my pursuit. I stumbled on to Irene Sanders' book by chance because of its cover title.

I was intrigued when I scanned the book index and found many interesting stuff: insight, foresight, geographic intelligence, Futurescape vs. Mindmap, imagery, new planning paradigm, new science, perking information, scenario building, thinking in pictures, visual models, whole-brain functioning, etc. All my kind of stuff.

I have read the book many times because of my deep personal interest in Strategic Thinking, and I have not been disappointed.

I love the author's break down of the Strategic Thinking process into two components:

- insight about the present; - foresight about the future;

and her argument that visual thinking stimulates both processes. She also defines and makes very clear distinctions between the terms `insight' and `foresight' as well as `forecast.' She then moves on to introduce her seven principles of Strategic Thinking in the context of the New Science, and elaborates at length her ten-step Futurescape mapping process. To me, her Futurescaping is an extremely innovative expansion of the Mindscaping process created by Nancy Margulies in her book, Mapping Innerspace, which I had reviewed earlier.

She goes on further to differentiate her Futurescape from the traditional mind-mapping process, developed by Tony Buzan. I thought that was great, as I have always felt that mind-mapping is only good for organising personal notes and dumping quick ideas on to paper. I love to play with the Futurescape mapping process, in the light of its ability to present the big visual picture, showing the dynamic interactions and inter-relationships of abstract concepts as well as complex issues.

With hindsight from my own consulting work, I am firmly convinced that Futurescaping can be a very powerful tool for strategic visioning by companies/organisations, as part of their annual business planning exercise. It will allow "left-brain thinkers" to work harmoniously with "right-brain thinkers" to form a whole-brain approach for designing the preferred company future.

Frankly, just learning - and mastering - the Futurescaping process in your life and/or business will be worth more than the money you are going to spend on this book!

The book is divided into two equal parts: with Part 1: Understanding the New Science, and Part 2: The Art & Science of Visual Thinking. In the first part, she outlines and explains many of the New Science terms very well. For once, "butterflies and hurricanes" make some real sense to me. The second part is essentially the application part of the author's visual models. As the author puts it, it is also the framework for the new planning paradigm, as defined by the New Science.

While reading this book, it reminds me of another good book, The Next Common Sense, by Michael Lissack. There seems to be a common thread among the two books. Both authors argue and support very strongly the visual thinking metaphors as powerful tools for comprehending complexity. I strongly recommend readers to get hold of the book.

Again, this is another good book that you just can't read it in one go and put it on your shelf. You have to peruse it, think about it, reflect, and then make use of the Futurescape mapping process. To paraphrase the author, `The present is the future in its most creative state.' Futurescaping will allow you to put your creativity to work. On the whole, the author's writing style is very easy-going.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Visual thinking is the focus, not complexity theory, December 7, 2000

By 

Max More "Max More" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strategic Thinking and the New Science: Planning in the Midst of Chaos Complexity and Change (Hardcover)

This book aims to apply chaos and complexity theory to business strategy. Sanders does a fine job of compressing the vast intellectual history of science into a couple of concise chapters. She shows how previous physical world views from the Aristotelian to the mechanistic have influenced culture, including business thinking (most obviously with the re-engineering movement). The connection between complexity theory and Sanders' main offering to business strategists appear rather tenuous. The main lesson seems to be that complexity theory helps us to understand the dynamically interrelated workings of the world. The real theme of this book is not complexity theory but the use of visual thinking to gain insight and foresight in a complex world. Although the historical and expository parts of the book are well written and interesting, the main value comes from the second half on using visual landscapes ("FutureScapes") to assist in strategic thinking. While much of this will not seem particularly novel to those used to using MindMaps and similar techniques, Sanders does systematically lay out a procedure for applying this tool to strategic thinking. Don't expect to learn how complexity theory can directly solve business problem. Nevertheless, the 70 or so pages in the visual thinking section are worth studying and implementing.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars LITE Strategic thinking and chaos theory, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Strategic Thinking and the New Science: Planning in the Midst of Chaos Complexity and Change (Hardcover)

In light of the high praise given by other reviewers to "Strategic Thinking and the New Science", there may be some merit to a cautionary note. Other reviewers appear to have business backgrounds, while mine is mathematical and technical, which may help explain my different response.

First off, contrary to her claim on page P62, Chaos theory is NOT one of "the three major scientific revolutions of the century". This major piece of hype should trigger warning signals about how substantial the content is.

Two examples should illustrate what bothers me most about the book.

1) (P90-91) Sanders provides a checklist for what's special about insights. This list may be hazardous to your health. Included, for example, is an assertion that there "is an intuitive certainty about its correctness." Anyone holding strongly to a novel idea - pick your favorite crackpot - is likely to go through this list and agree that the revelation meets these criteria, especially that one. Except perhaps those boring old-fashioned folks who still believe in linear thinking, whatever that is.

2) (P94) "One of the most intriguing aspects of our visual mind is its ability to recognize patterns....". It's important to replace "recognize" with "find" or "see". We frequently find patterns that aren't actually present and see things that aren't there. The man in the moon is a trivial example. There's been lots of research in this area that Sanders either is aware of, or should be, that's worth citing.

We are a visual animal, so it makes sense to use problem discovering and problems solving techniques that take advantage of this capability. Sanders' book is basically a description and justification for her trademarked tool for this. But critical analysis needs to be applied to ideas so generated. That's what distinguishes crackpots from geniuses. Failure to make this clear is a major failing.

As a corrective measure, I would recommend Richard Muller's "Nemesis : The Death Star", except that it's out of print. It's about his contributions to the currently mostly accepted theory that the dieout of the dinosaurs was caused by a bolide impact and is a fascinating read (if you've any interest in the particular subject, Walter Alvarez and James Powell have both written terrific books about the history of how this theory came to be). What's valuable is Muller's repeated insistence on the value of creating lots good ideas and having a good mechanism for deciding which ones are worth pursuing and which aren't worth wasting further time on. Other (linear, no doubt) scientists have made the same point, but I've not recently read anything as clear about it.