Consider: Harnessing the Power of Reflective Thinking In Your Organization [Hardcover]

This book posits a basic hypothesis. "We are too distracted in our lives, and our work". The author explains, this distraction is partly the increasing role that techonolgy plays in our lives, but also the increasingly higher value that we place on "action". Then this book attempts to answer the question: "what happens to organizations filled with distracted people?" The author succeeds in looking beyond the obvious, and finding a systemic flaw in our collective behavior. The flaw is that we have removed the practice of reflective thinking in our daily routines; organizations don't value it, and people don't do it.

Why is reflection important, who cares? This book will demonstrate that if you want your organization to be adaptive to change, creative in its solutions, and meainingful in its impact; then reflective thinking is a key ingredient.

The author's writing style is very conversational, and not overly academic. Their are a few hard data points and statistics, but for the most part this book is about stories. It's about real-life examples of companies and individuals who have reclaimed the lost art of reflection and how it is effecting their lives. These stories are wide ranging, and do a nice job covering the four pillars of American institutions: Government, Private Industry, Academia and Non-Profits. His examples range from the financial crisis and Katrina response, to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq and even the American Civil War. At the end of each chapter there are take-aways; key lessons to learn from each chapter, which are usually steps or important considerations for implementing the books advice. Though it may seem redundant, these take-aways really provide a nice roadmap for how to put this book to use, which is something severly lacking in most "business" books I read.

The stories he tells are really interesting annecdotes by themselves, but to me the price of this book comes from discovering one underlying observation consistent through all the examples he gives. This observation is really important and can't be understaded. It is that organizations who embrace reflective thinking send a signal that they care about finding some objective truth. They want truth about their performance, about their impact in the world, and to know, with some certainty, that they are making the right decision and not just the first decision. As a result of reflection and think time, these institutions create cultures of dissent, and are not afraid to explore the "what if we are wrong" scenarios.

In my opinion America is ripe for this kind of honest conversation. As we look back at the last 10 years and see our hasty reactions to 9/11, irrational exuberence in the housing market, and a political system all too happy with short-term, bandaid policies; it becomes obvious that more time to sit back and think through mistake avoidance is needed now more than ever.

I think Forrester has beautifully captured a moment in time in the marketplace: the paradigm shift that space and reflection make us more productive in the long-term. senior executives feel so beholden to earnings, stock prices, and compliance regulations; that they have lost sight of what is even more important...their people. and it is becoming evident that they can't ignore the things that make people great and still get great results over the long-haul.

I love that this book is so simple in its premise (that reflection is a necessary part of good decision-making) but profound in light of what really happens in the market. If more executives are able to take hold of these ideas, we will see a huge shift in innovation while making employees happier at the same time. Give them the freedom to bring the best of themselves to the table and see what happens.

With a fluid and compelling narrative that engages the reader, Consider asks us to do what so many of us fail to do - think instead of react. The author details several examples, some famous and some not, of failure and takes readers through the thought processes that enabled the failure, its impacts, and the lessons learned by leaders and organizations. Showing how the outcomes of major events can turn on what seems to be the smallest of decisions or surest of assumptions, Consider makes it clear few if any decisions or assumptions should be characterized as small because their impacts may exponentially cascade in unforseen ways. While leaders rarely have all the information they need to make optimal decisions, they usually have the time they need yet choose not to take it. The author sets forth a multipronged argument that disengaging from immediate activity is a critical input to improving productivity and quality. The time to think, coupled with open and possibly disruptive feedback, is a badly underutilized resource in todays working environment. The principles he lays out for incorporating relfection into an organization can positively impact everyone from the CEO to the receptionist and is a must read for anyone interested in learning from their history instead of repeating it.