Full-Spectrum Thinking

How to Escape Boxes in a Post-Categorical Future

By: Bob Johansen

Narrated by: Bob Johansen

Leading futurist Bob Johansen shows how a new way of thinking, enhanced by new technologies, will help leaders break free of limiting labels and see new gradients of possibility in a chaotic world.

The future will get even more perplexing over the next decade, and we are not ready. The dilemma is that we’re restricted by rigid categorical thinking that freezes people and organizations in neatly defined boxes that often are inaccurate or obsolete. Categories lead us toward certainty but away from clarity, and categorical thinking moves us away from understanding the bigger picture. Sticking with this old way of thinking and seeing isn’t just foolish, it’s dangerous.

Full-spectrum thinking is the ability to seek patterns and clarity outside, across, beyond, or maybe even without any boxes or categories while resisting false certainty and simplistic binary choices. It reveals our commonalities that are hidden in plain view. Bob Johansen lays out the core concepts of full-spectrum thinking and reveals the role that digital media - including gameful engagement, big-data analytics, visualization, blockchain, and machine learning - will play in facilitating and enhancing it. He offers examples of broader spectrums and new applications in a wide range of areas that will become possible first, then mandatory. This visionary book provides powerful ways to make sense of new opportunities and see the world as it really is.

©2020 Bob Johansen (P)2020 Bob Johansen

Brilliant and practical

Bob Johansen’s books are always excellent in the way he takes complex concepts and makes them easier to understand and implement. This book does just that and more importantly on a subject that may determine the future for all of us. Traditional ways of categorizing and boxing in the world, people and ideas are limiting our abilities to cope with our complex, evolving environment. Bob dissects these shortcomings and proposes multiple solutions that each of us can apply to life - personal and professional. This book is a must read for everyone who wants to be thoughtful, prepared and ready for this changing world and the new technologies fueling it.

Great info. Long delivery

There are some great talking points in this book, but I would have enjoyed it much more if it was 1/10 the length.