Moment of Clarity

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not big on business books. I have only read a few, but I find them a bore to go through. They're often unnecessarily long, repeating themselves and ideas that other people have shared in dozens (if not hundreds) of books before them with slightly tweaked terminology. I am one of the human sciences people spoken about in this book, focusing more on sociology/anthropology, literature, and philosophy, so the fact that I enjoyed this book and devoured it should tell you a lot already. Moving on, what Madsbjerg and Rasmussen do here is provide an amazing new way to understand the challenges and shifts that a business must go through in order to survive (and thrive, ideally). Rather than merely making large claims and sweeping generalizations, they take their approach the way a philosopher does. First, they provide a short description of what "sensemaking" is by countering it to "default thinking," the dominant mode of thought in the business world today. From there, they look at the common default thinking patterns and begin to deconstruct them. They take care here, allowing themselves a good 50 pages (about 1/4 of the book's entire length) to these common ways of thinking and really dig deep into them. They unpack the assumptions and philosophies beneath these different forms of default thinking. You begin to see why businesses are destined to flounder and fail when they rely too heavily on these guides. And further, you learn why it is so difficult to get outside of these modes of thought. Even further, Madsbjerg and Rasmussen detail why traditional "outside the box" and "creative" thinking exercises fail as well; how they are merely extensions of already flawed understandings of people and business dressed up in a new gown. Madsbjerg and Rasmussen are not merely destructive, however. They are very quick to give these modes of thought credit for when they are successful. They are just clear that these can only be successful in very specific situations and with very specific problems. It is when a business "enters a fog" and has no idea what changes are coming, how to prepare for them, or where they are going as a company that default thinking fails. Madsbjerg and Rasmussen describe why exactly default thinking fails in certain scenarios in order to drive home what is unique about their approach and why it is so sorely needed. From here, Madsbjerg and Rasmussen provide an in-depth description of their method and its relationship with "the human sciences" (described above: sociology/anthropology, literature, art, philosophy, etc). Then, they detail four case studies of the correct and successful application of their sensemaking approach and the massive impact it had in correctly orienting their clients for the long haul. That is probably one of the strongest takeaways from this book: the sensemaking strategy and its findings are a foundation upon which success can be continually built. It provides an anchor of sorts, a better understanding of the company as a whole, its goals, values, and customers. From there, it is much easier to navigate the business world because you are seeing people as actual people, not as things or perfect marketing figures. The last chapter is a description of how to take the sensemaking method into your own business and work yourself out of the fog. A very helpful chapter that really hammers home how useful and adaptable this method is and acts as a great jumping off point. I believe that Madsbjerg and Rasmussen really added great value to the business world with this book. They took a daring approach that really seems quite obvious after they have finished stating their case. They provide impeccable logic to their argument, backing it up with lived experience and the human condition. I think this book has the potential to really change the business landscape and provides a great explanation for the use of the human sciences in not only the business world, but in everyday life as well.

It's a book about method. It's a good one (method). If you are a manager, you are going to benefit reading it. I promise you. The author's promise: p.2 "Why is customer behavior so difficult to understand? ... we have an answer to that question." Really they have one. p.4 "...we will use the human sciences to introduce you to a new way of understanding human behavior." You manager have a thinking problem (that is why your effort are not so fruitful): p.47, "...thinking outside the box and default thinking are ultimately two sides of the same coin. The coin atomizes the complexity of human behavior into discrete parts, neglecting the importance of holism and context. It's the coin that continues to get people wrong." And the thought of the author's book continues... The book is well written. The book is a lot worthwhile reading. The book will take you 14 to 18 hours to read carefully (5 to 8 journeys).

What make this book a must read for senior executives is that both authors employ human science methods to build their own business perspectives for strategy formulation and implementation. What also make this book unique to readers is that unlike other business writings that place great emphasis on computational algorithm and quantitative data, both authors introduce phenomenology as a qualitative method for executives from different management layers to identify their business problems. The theoretical premise of this book is that human beings could weigh different decision making options without going through a rational process or even they might not know what they want. This book uses Heidegger theory of phenomenology to postulate that human beings are so embedded in their activities so that they do not need to think and judge and the best way to examine them is through direct experience of their everyday lives. In this book, both authors argue that the widely-adopted default business thinking via the employment of research methods in natural science such as hypothesis testing, quantitative data, and focus group could not help executives unfold complicated consumer behavior and their needs. They maintain that business leaders should put aside their presumptions and learn to play the role of being a sensemaker to reframe their business problems. According to them, the objectives and values of sensemaking include thick description of human behaviors, business perspective building, and in-depth absorption of the phenomenon to identify business solutions. The 5-phase sense making process (reframe the problem, data collection, pattern identification, insights, and business impact building) involves open-ended approach and qualitative methods employed by anthropologists, psychologist, historians, and social scientists such as ethnography and participant observation. This book includes 3 chapters with real business cases (Intel, Adidas, LEGO, and Colopast) to explicate how sensemaking can help corporations to cope with diverse business challenges, including turnaround, product design, and reformulation of corporate strategy. This book provides great insights to business executives who have thrown doubts to the competitiveness and survivability of their businesses. The sensemaking approach can also help senior executives establish a more open-minded business culture for their corporations.

This is a good intro book on the subject but I think challenging the reader would be a fantastic way to work through some of these ideas. Ex: by including some exercises or a link to the company's website where readers can easily access other articles and case studies with "practice" exercises. Basically take this book from interesting to a learning tool.

It's an interesting read for sure, especially in the context of large corporations. At least on the surface level, a lot of what's talked about in this book is already being done in the startup world, but done differently. The one thing that I think is most valuable is the "framing the problem as a phenomenon" approach. Just two weeks ago I met with a startup team that sought my advise on their business. I found them to be too focussed on their "solution," and it took me no time to get them to understand that they didn't have any sort of grip on who their customers were and the specific problems they were trying to solve. Without going into the specifics, I was trying to get them to understand the deeper motivations of their customers, etc. It'd have helped if I'd have articulated it as "frame the problem as a phenomenon." I'm definitely eager to dig into it some more. I'd have loved to see some references mentioned to help someone like me who's interested in exploring further. Coming from the startup world, I'd be motivated to figure out ways of leveraging human sciences even with extremely scarce resources.

Those who are interested in understanding the drivers of human decision-making, including in the business or consumer space, will find this book useful. In short, this book argues that we can't simply assume human behavior. Our assumptions are often predicated on the rational thinker, the utility optimizer, or the cost-benefit analyzer, when we know that humans don't always act in such logical or rational ways. Rather, the authors suggest that we must learn human behavior, often through direct inquiry and interpretation. Companies have advocated "staying close to the consumer" or obtaining detailed "user feedback" for years. What they haven't been necessarily doing, however, is unpacking that feedback, reading between the lines, and interpreting the real meanings that may be conveyed by consumers. This book spotlights the value of deciphering, interpreting, and elucidating what we really mean when we say one thing or act in a certain way. This book also challenges entrepreneurs and corporate execs to push for deeper meaning to better understand consumer preferences. Helping to uncover those "true" meanings and helping businesses to articulate the real values that consumers find would seem to benefit consumer and businesses alike.

With background from Humanities as well as Business School I have to admit that this book has provided me with insights (answers to a number of my questions) which I have been struggling throughout my MBA education! This is the only book I know that is able to show the usefulness of Social Science as well as Humanities in Corporate world. It is a must read for executives as well as traditional "too smart for humanities" consultants!!

The Moment of Clarity gets to the heart of several key weaknesses in the decision making and strategic evaluation methods that are standard in most enterprises today. The book advertises itself as a "problem-solving" themed offering. In the end I would say it's more about ensuring that your problem solving methods are applied to the proper problems than about solving them per say. Nonetheless, if you have ever found yourself struggling to properly frame a problem in business or life in general, or ever felt frustrated that your solutions were not gaining the traction you expect, then you will appreciate that Madsbjerg has to say. At points the Madsbjerg brings up the philosophical inspiration for his method, and I found that a bridge too far. He spends some time with the philosophy, skimming the surface with Heidegger, etc, and I appreciate what he was trying to accomplish. But he either should have covered it more thoroughly and really connected those theories back to his own, or he should have made it more cursory. As it is, I found it somewhere in the vague middle where he said enough to provoke the reader's curiosity and then never took it any deeper. But that is a minor criticism. I read this book on my Kindle, and made so many notes in the margins that I ordered a hard copy to mark up again. The case studies do a great job of illustrating his points. I highly recommend this very useful and well-presented book.