How outdated mental models make you stagnate;
When do you need to change your mental model?
How to create a series of new mental models;
How to constantly improve the mental model so that it will never be out of date;
The scientific basis of mental model.
We often become "prisoners" in our daily work, life and routine behavior, locked in the existing mental model. This book will open the door of wisdom for you and let you do things far beyond your imagination.
-steve forbes, chairman and CEO of Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine.
I have always been puzzled by Japan's long-term stagnation, and I can't find a good explanation and solution. This book gave me an inspiration, learn to trace back to the source, examine the internal mental model from time to time, build a new mental model, and start thinking from a new angle.
-Kenichi Ohmae, a world-famous master of strategic management and economy.
When you had to make a change, did you encounter difficulties? Is your career stagnant? Is your business developing slowly? Are you behind your competitors in the innovation competition? Have you encountered any obstacles in implementing the diet and exercise plan? Are you overwhelmed by information? You may need to change your thinking mode. Changing your thinking mode can help you think in an unusual way, overcome obstacles and realize changes in your personal life, career and society. This book will tell you how to do it!
Foreword:
At first glance, mental models may be abstract and meaningless. But in fact, they are not as dismissive as optical illusions, everyday puzzles or academic curiosity-all these are in our minds. Our mental model affects the quality and direction of our life. They mean profit and loss, even life and death.
After the "9. 1 1" terrorist attack, the debate about American intelligence work shows how difficult it is to be wise in today's complex environment. The analysis of the US Congress focuses on who should know when and what, that is, information, rather than the more critical psychological model that determines how to treat information. Like many cases in our current information age, the cause of the disaster is not mainly the lack of data. Before that attack, a lot of data showed that it was possible to attack using planes as throwing weapons: there was even information that members of the conspiracy were organized. Even if more specific information can be collected and enjoyed by different departments, the disaster can only be partly attributed to data collection. This incident is not a failure of intelligence work itself; At least to some extent, the failure is more due to the failure to understand the information successfully.
Important information is filtered out by people's existing mental models related to terrorism and hijacking. For example, young male workers who are middle-class, good-looking and full of pursuit of life are usually not considered as young fanatics who will throw suicide bombs, so when these seemingly quiet men start to study in flight schools or ask questions about low-altitude flights to fertilize crops, their possibility of participating in terrorist incidents will be ignored. This hijacking incident also reflects the role of the inherent way of thinking. In a typical hijacking, the plane and crew are taken hostage and then fly to a remote area requested by the hijacker. Pilots will be told that it is best not to resist for the safety of crew and passengers. In the "9. 1 1" attack, the key information is filtered by this mental model, and it is difficult for people to find out what really happened: when they know it, it is too late.
The "9. 1 1" incident also strongly proved the power of changing the mode of thinking. When the passengers on the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, received the news about the attack on the World Trade Center from their friends or family members through their mobile phones, some of them immediately realized that it was not a typical hijacking. They understand that their plane will be used as a weapon and thrown at another target. Within minutes, they changed their mode of thinking and took heroic action to stop the hijackers. As a result, the last plane didn't hit the target, but crashed on a piece of land in western Pennsylvania. If the passengers on this plane don't understand what will happen and don't stop it, it will lead to a more tragic disaster. Similar to the hijacking incident that happened earlier in the day, the passengers and crew of Flight 93 appeared in their minds. They formed different mental models in an instant, quickly understood what was going to happen, and acted according to this knowledge. It is these changes that make everything different.
Mental model Our most persistent and possibly limited illusion is that we believe that the world we see is the real world, and rarely question our mental model of seeing the world unless we are forced to do so. One day, the internet looks infinitely attractive. It is perfect, magnificent and beautiful. On the other day, it became an exaggerated and insidious thing that looked useless. The following picture itself hasn't changed, but for a moment we saw an attractive young woman, but the next minute we changed our mind. What's going on here? The painting itself has not changed much, but at first we saw a charming young woman, and later it became a shriveled old woman. Hill, "My wife and my mother-in-law." This is called "Gestalt Flip". The lines and data have not changed, but the picture effect has changed greatly. what has changed? It's not the picture itself, but our psychological activities. What we see in front of us has not changed, but what we see behind us has changed. The same landscape produces different "impressions".
We use the word "mental model" (or "mental formula") to describe the process of brain activity when we know the world. In recent decades, the progress of science and technology has enabled us to observe the brain directly. This is the starting point of the changes in philosophy and neuroscience. Now, when we are thinking or observing, we can monitor the activity of our brain instead of just thinking about our thinking process as in the past. This study produced a lot of experimental data. In view of the incredible complexity of the brain, a series of neuroscience theories have emerged to explain what happens in our brain. In business and other organizations, the interaction of these mental models becomes more complicated. Because everyone takes their own mental models to participate in group decision-making or negotiation, and these mental models have their own prejudices, such as thinking in a team will limit flexibility and reduce choices.
When we led changes at Wharton Business School and Citigroup and helped other CEOs to reform their organizations, we began to realize how important these mental models were to the reform process. We wrote this book to explore the significance of mental model in changing our business activities, personal life and society. This book is not to explain some evidence of neuroscience, but it does recognize that there is a complex internal structure in the brain, which is determined by genes and experience.
The way we understand the world depends more on our inner world than on the outer world. The inner world composed of neurons, neurochemistry and electrical activities has an incredibly complex structure and moves in ways that we can't clearly express. We call it "mental model". This pattern that exists in our brains is our understanding and expression of ourselves and the environment. The appendix at the back of the book has a more detailed explanation of the development of neuroscience and has an influence on the views reflected in this book. The content of mental model is broader than technological innovation and business model. The mental model represents the way we look at the world. These mental models or mental formulas can sometimes be reflected in technological or commercial innovations, but not every tiny innovation can represent a new mental model. For example, changing from a hot spot in the beverage market to a diet soft drink is a great innovation, but it only reflects some minor changes in the mental model. Our mental model is deeper, usually so deep that we can't detect it.
As the core component of our perception and thinking, mental models often appear in activities related to decision-making, organizational learning and creative thinking. In particular, Ian Mitlov has explored the influence of mental models on creative business thinking in several of his books, including Boundless Mind, co-authored with Harold Linstone. These authors carefully examine the importance of questioning key assumptions, especially when changing from "old thinking" to new "unconstrained system thinking". In the Fifth Discipline and other books, Peter Senge discussed how the mental model can restrict and promote organizational learning. John Healy Brown studied the importance of "anti-learning" in world change. In the book Decision Trap, J Edward Lasso, J Edward Russo and Paul ·J·H· Shoemaker emphasized the influence of thinking frame and overconfidence on decision-making. They recently emphasized this point in their book The Decision to Win. Russell Ackoff emphasized in his works, such as Creating the Corporate Future, that in the process of realizing the plan, it is necessary to question the basic model through an "idealized design". This design takes the ideal result as the starting point, and achieves this result by setting and realizing some goals and steps. Of course, there are more rigorous academic thoughts on this topic, such as Decision Science written by Paul Klindover, Howard Kuleshe and Paul Shoemaker, and chris argyris's research on organizational learning. Many other books and articles also mention mental models to varying degrees.
Since so many books and articles have been published on this topic, why write a book on this topic? First, neuroscience research has scientifically supported the feeling that can only be obtained by intuition in the past. This kind of research makes the mental model richer and more credible, especially when considering the inherent invisibility of the mental model. Secondly, this book examines the influence of mental models in a wider range, not only discussing how they affect organizational decision-making or learning, but also discussing their modes of action and their significance in personal, organizational and social changes.
Finally, although those articles discussed our mental models, they did not discuss how mental models affected our thinking and actions, and led to serious mistakes and lost opportunities.
This is a subject that we will continue to study. This book is a preliminary discussion on this subject, and will explore how to apply these profound insights to personal life and business activities.
What we see is what we think. Whether considering business behavior or making personal decisions, we "see" more than we see (see the information box: "The difference between what we see and what we feel"). What we see is what we think. We usually believe what we see through our own eyes or perceive through other senses. But research shows that we seldom use the information we feel from the outside world, and most of it is discarded. Although we have experienced the process of looking at the outside world, these constantly entering image information actually only evokes some other experiences in our inner world. This is not to say that the external world does not exist (although philosophers have also demonstrated this point), but that we ignore most of the external world. The difference between what you see and what you feel is the difference between the ability to be wise and the ability to see. Mike May is a skilled skier. He began to be blind at the age of three and didn't recover part of his vision until he had an operation at the age of 46. In his diary, he described his first experience of seeing the world after he regained his sight.
On the first air trip after his vision recovered, when he looked out of the window, he couldn't recognize what he saw. He thought that the white lines that crossed the brown and green land were mountains. He explained his situation to the passenger sitting next to him and asked, "Can you help me recognize what I saw?" The lady sitting next to him told him that the white line was mist, and then told him which was a canyon, which was a field and which was a highway. When he saw the night sky, he thought the stars were "white spots, so many white spots". He later slowly recognized them as stars.
The process of his vision recovery is only the starting point for him to learn and understand these new visual information.
Most of what we see actually comes from our brains.
The "phantom limb" felt by those who lost limbs in accidents and operations can well explain the mind's ability to create "reality". The real limb no longer exists, but these people can still feel its existence. In a famous experiment, Dr Ramachandran of salk Research Center touched a patient's face with a cotton swab. As a result, the patient felt that his lost hand had been touched. This is because in our brains, the images of hands and faces are displayed in adjacent brain regions. When the hand is lost in an accident, the neurons corresponding to this brain region move to the brain region corresponding to the face and receive sensory input. In this way, the patient's brain feels that the nonexistent hand has been touched. The feeling of this person touching his opponent is completely real. As Dr. ramachandran pointed out in a series of reports made by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC): Our brain is a "modeling machine", and we build a "virtual reality" corresponding to the outside world, and then respond accordingly.
Although most of us have never experienced "phantom limb", we all have the experience of believing something at first, and then suddenly finding ourselves wrong. Just like in magic, we are often led to think that something has happened, but what actually happened is completely different. Many great plays and mystery novels, as well as our own experiences, contain such distortions. We often feel surprised and sigh at the rapid change in the way we understand the world.
The importance of mental model mental model affects all aspects of our personal life, career and wider social field. Please look at some examples below.
Personal life-health. We are bombarded with new medical research and other information every day. Some studies have found that a certain food or exercise is beneficial or harmful to our health. Some of these reports are contradictory, and even some studies published in respected medical journals were later overturned or made people feel less convincing than originally touted in the media. We also received some other information about potential disease threats, such as AIDS, mad cow disease, West Nile virus and SARS. How should we assess these threats and take appropriate actions? We are also faced with some more basic problems such as how to treat health. For example, European and American traditions can be adopted and treated after the onset; You can also use diet, supplements and exercise to prevent diseases; Or a combination of these two methods. We can believe in self-therapy, homeopathy, osteopathy or natural therapy.
How we make decisions in this field depends on how we look at the world. If we choose to go on a diet to lose weight, we will be at a loss in the face of numerous dieting schemes. The way we understand this situation is of great significance to our life span and quality of life. How to understand these choices? How can we better evaluate these choices and make decisions that are beneficial to personal health? Company growth. Many companies have formulated their own strategies according to their traditional growth models.
McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and other companies all grow in the domestic market, and then maintain their development by looking for overseas markets or new distribution channels. Other companies grow through mergers and acquisitions. However, the price of growth may be to dilute the brand value of the company-if Starbucks coffee can be bought at gas stations or supermarkets, then the brand may be another matter completely. However, the commitment to investors makes the company addicted to growth. How should the company create a healthy growth strategy? Enhance brand (reduce losses, maximize customer life value, occupy market share, enter new markets, increase new distribution channels, etc. ), extend the brand to new products/markets, or create new brands (new growth engines)? What other models has the company adopted to establish and maintain its successful business? Can you apply them to your business activities? Society-diversity and positive action. Mental models also play a very important role in the debate on social challenges. For example, what is the best way to correct or compensate for the unequal treatment of ethnic minorities and certain groups (such as women) in history? There is a model in the "positive action plan" of the United States, which provides a formal structure for compensating historical discrimination. As President Lyndon lyndon johnson said in a speech at Harvard University, "You can't liberate a person after years of bondage ... and then tell him that you are free to compete with others and feel that you have done it fairly." But opponents of this strategy have a different model-they think that programs such as "positive action plan" emphasize and continue the racial discrimination they oppose. President George W. Bush said at the University of Michigan that the "positive action plan" is "divided, unfair and impossible to be consistent with the US Constitution". The choice of these modes is of far-reaching significance to law, society and individuals. Different views are reflected in a series of striking court cases.
In each case, the mental model plays an important role in our thinking and action. Our mental model determines our understanding of the world, and at the same time promotes or inhibits our possible actions. We will discuss some specific dilemmas about personal life, business activities and society in chapter 1 1.
Thinking about the impossible, how can paramore think? This process will be outlined in the next section (see data frame: "Selection of transformation").
Choice of transformation: understand the strength and limitations of mental model, how mental model determines the world you know, how mental model limits or expands your activity scope, keep your mental model consistent with reality, know when to change horses, realize that paradigm shift is a two-way street, and see new ways to look at things closer and farther: gain value from complex information, devote yourself to experiments of new models, overcome obstacles to restraining changes, and dismantle old rules to find * *. First, we need to determine the importance of mental models and the ways in which they create opportunities and limitations. This will be discussed in the first part. Then, we must find ways to make our mental model practical, decide when to change a new model (and put the old model into the model base at the same time), where to find the way for us to observe and think, how to get involved in and get rid of the complex environment, and how to carry out continuous experiments. This will be discussed in the second part. Even if we are willing to change our thinking, we need to identify the obstacles trapped in the old thinking mode. These restrictive influences include not only the basic composition and activities of our lives, but also the slowly changing mental patterns around us. In the third part, we discuss the obstacles to change and the ways to overcome them. Finally, we think that the application of mental model is to act faster, so in the last part of this book, we will discuss how to master mental model quickly through intuition, thus changing our world.
Brief introduction of the author
Jerry Wendell, director of marketing department of Wharton Business School, founder and director of Wharton Business School Fellowship Program, director of SEI Senior Management Research Center of Wharton Business School, and a world-renowned marketing expert. He has written more than 20 books, including Integrated Marketing and Driving Change. He has won many famous marketing awards and served as a consultant for many Fortune 500 companies, multinational companies and government departments.
Colin Crook is a senior researcher at Wharton Business School, a member of the advisory board of Rein Capital, a member of the editorial board of Emergence magazine, a member of the Royal Institution of Engineering, and a former technical director of Citigroup. He has served on academic committees and advisory committees in many countries, and served as a consultant to the government and many enterprises around the world.