Both/and Thinking

Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems

By: Wendy Smith, Marianne Lewis, Amy C. Edmondson - foreword

Narrated by: Stephanie Dillard

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Life is full of paradoxes. How can we each express our individuality while also being a team player? How do we balance work and life? How can we improve diversity while promoting opportunities for all? How can we manage the core business while innovating for the future?

For many of us, these competing and interwoven demands are a source of conflict. Since our brains love to make either-or choices, we choose one option over the other. We deal with the uncertainty by asserting certainty.

There's a better way.

In Both/And Thinking, Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis help listeners cope with multiple, knotted tensions at the same time. Drawing from more than twenty years of pioneering research, they provide tools and lessons for transforming these tensions into opportunities for innovation and personal growth.

Filled with practical advice and fascinating stories—including firsthand tales from IBM, LEGO, and Unilever, as well as from startups, nonprofits, and even an inn at one of the four corners of the world—Both/And Thinking will change the way you approach your most vexing problems.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2022 Ascent Audio

Useful and accesssible

So thrilled to have read this book. It strikes the prefect balance between offering complex ideas from organizational theory and leadership while still being accessible and useful to a wide audience.

Good content but not clear to the point

The content and purpose of the book was good enough. But it was too theoretical and clinical for me. It was more than two-thirds into the book when they finally talked about how to apply the learning, and even then they kept bouncing back and forth to the theoretical.

Excellent book

The narration was well done
The lessons learned in this book will last a lifetime. Well worth your time

A good idea with poor follow through

It’s a shame paradoxical thinking was illustrated with such well-worn and over-told stories such as IBM and Lego. The authors tried to give it life with cutesy personal stories, though these often fell flat and felt shallow. I hope some future author will review the sources for this book, and pull out new and novel approaches. The world needs both/and thinking.