Dare to Think Differently - by Gerald Zaltman (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A Harvard Business School professor's guide to thinking about thinking, using the creative power of the unconscious.

Gerald Zaltman's pioneering research methods for understanding the unconscious desires of customers are used by companies around the world. Dare to Think Differently draws on the same groundbreaking methods to explain the deep and innovative thinking used by highly successful executives.

Reflecting emerging viewpoints in neuroscience, Zaltman contends that multiple forces, not just a brain, collaborate to produce a mind. Highly effective decision-makers are able and willing to go beyond their conscious thinking and surface powerful, creative, unconscious thoughts and feelings. They candidly ask whether what they feel they "know" is actually warranted, opening their minds to new alternatives.

This book's insights emerge from a large number of one-on-one in-depth interviews with senior leaders around the globe, reinforced with research findings from scientific literatures. Zaltman presents six techniques he developed to help his students at Harvard, and his blue chip consulting clients, tap into the creative power of the unconscious: "befriending your ignorance," "serious play," "chasing your curiosity," asking the right "discovery questions," "panoramic thinking," and using the "voyager outlook." These techniques provide a research-based set of ideas for improving decision-making that go beyond the existing literature on "thinking smarter."

Mirroring Zaltman's Harvard Business School classroom practice, each chapter opens with a practical-thinking exercise that helps readers surface the mental processes and biases that unconsciously close minds and constrict thinking. This creative surfacing is the crucial foundation for any leader operating in a complex, uncertain environment, who needs unconventional solutions to challenging problems.

Review Quotes

"Dare to Think Differently is a training manual for building skills and avoiding traps that lead to bad decisions, as well as a tour through wonderful paradoxes and dialectical juxtapositions that remind us of the folly of thinking too narrowly, linearly, defensively, or lazily. As ever, Zaltman is playfully up to some constructive mischief that, if taken seriously, can help us overcome some of the biggest problems we face as a species." --Scott McDonald, Advertising Research Foundation

"Dare to Think Differently is a transformative guide that challenges traditional thinking patterns and encourages readers to embrace uncertainty, engage with ignorance, and enjoy ambiguity as powerful tools for growth. It's a must-read for anyone seeking to unlock their full creative potential." --Yoshi Fujikawa, Hitotsubashi University

"I loved reading Dare to Think Differently--Jerry Zaltman puts a fresh new lens on many constructs that I've used throughout my career. This book made me reflect on my own assumptions about what it means to be open-minded and the impact it can have on our decision making." --Clodagh Forde, The Coca-Cola Company

"Maslow changed the world by studying self-actualized individuals from afar. Now Zaltman enters the subconscious minds of hundreds of successful executives, including himself, and finds six consistent ways of using the mind which all of us need to learn if we are to thrive in the challenging world ahead." --Bill Harvey, Bill Harvey Consulting

"Simply brilliant. Zaltman explains innovative techniques for tapping the vast experiences stored in your own unconscious mind and using them for better business and personal decision-making. Thinking techniques like 'Befriending Ignorance, ' 'Serious Playfulness, ' and 'Panoramic Thinking' are simple and practical." --Jagdish N. Sheth, Emory University

"This fascinating and original book won't tell you what to think.It will tell you how your mind would be more effective if ituses the six habits of an open mind.These habits are learnable with Zaltman's guiding exercises. I don't know another book like it." --Philip Kotler, Northwestern University

About the Author

Gerald Zaltman is an emeritus professor at the Harvard Business School, and a former member of the Executive Committee of Harvard University's Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative. Zaltman pioneered the use of tools and insights from cognitive neuroscience, art therapy, and linguistics to understand subconscious customer thoughts and feelings.