Crainer crazy craft 2.0 ep 15

5-2. Mental Models A mental model can be thought of as an internal picture that affects a leader's thoughts, actions, and relationships with others. Mental models are theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#AWCLDG96LT7JBDYUC495) A system means any set of elements that interact to form a whole and produce a speci�ied outcome. To understand what is meant by a mental model, consider an electrical circuit as a system. Exhibit 5.1 shows the elements of an electrical circuit system. A mental model would give you a picture in your mind of how these four elements �it together to produce the outcome of light. Just as an electric circuit is a system, an organization is a system, as is a football team, a sorority pledge drive, or the registration system at a university. An accurate mental model helps a leader understand how to arrange the key elements in these systems to get the desired outcome.

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#AWCLDG96LT7JBDYUC495
Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models

theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

W. B. Rouse and N. M. Morris, “On Looking Into the Black Box: Prospects and Limits in the Search for Mental Models,” Psychological Bulletin 100 (1986), pp. 349–363; Beng-Chong Lim and Katherine J. Klein, “Team Mental Models and Team Performance: A Field Study of the Effects of Team Mental Model Similarity and Accuracy,” Journal of Organizational Behavior 27 (2006), pp. 403–418; Vanessa Urch Druskat and Anthony T. Pescosolido, “The Content of Effective Teamwork Mental Models in Self-Managing Teams: Ownership, Learning, and Heedful Interrelating,” Human Relations 55, no. 3 (2002), pp. 283–314; and Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (New York: Doubleday, 1990).

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Mental models theories people hold about speci�ic systems in the world and their expected behavior

Exhibit 5.1. Elements of a System

New Leader Action Memo

As a leader, you can become aware of your mental models and how they affect your thinking and behavior. You can learn to regard your assumptions as temporary ideas and strive to expand your mindset.

Leaders have many mental models that tend to govern how they interpret experiences and how they act in response to people and situations. Consider the two different mental models in the following quote from Robert Townsend, former CEO of Avis Rent-a-Car. To have a successful organization, he advised leaders, “you'll have to give up being an administrator who loves to run others and become a manager who carries water for his people so they can get on with the job.” * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#VBBEB7B70BLXC28Q9295) The �irst part of the phrase re�lects a mental model that it is the leader's job to control people, whereas the second part re�lects a mental model that the leader is a servant who helps people do their best. Exhibit 5.2 shows the mental model that Google's top leaders use to keep the company on the cutting edge as its core business of search matures. At Google, leaders believe that risk-taking, a little craziness, and making mistakes are important for the sake of innovation. Too much structure and control is considered death to the company. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#ELGNM5MJJ0D38EYJA636)

From Robert Townsend, Up the Organization , quoted in “Everything You Wanted to Know about Leadership, from the Man Who Broke All the Rules,” The Conference Board Review (September–October 2007), pp. 37–41.

Adam Lashinsky, “Chaos by Design,” Fortune (October 2, 2006), pp. 86–98.

Exhibit 5.2. Google Leaders' Mental Model

Stay uncomfortable

Let failure coexist with triumph

Use a little less “management” than you need

Defy convention

Move fast and �igure things out as you go

Source: Based on Adam Lashinsky, “Chaos by Design,” Fortune (October 2, 2006), pp. 86–98.

Leaders at Google, as well as other organizations, strive to create mental models that are aligned with organizational needs, goals, and values. However, personal values, attitudes, beliefs, biases, and prejudices can all affect one's mental model. A leader's assumptions play an important role in shaping his or her mental models, but leaders can examine their assumptions and shift or expand mental models when

https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#VBBEB7B70BLXC28Q9295
https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#ELGNM5MJJ0D38EYJA636
needed to keep their organizations healthy. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#BUXB3YK769QSN4SKD803)

The following discussion is based partly on Robert C. Benfari, Understanding and Changing Your Management Style (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999), pp. 66–93.

5-2a. Assumptions

In Chapter 4 , we discussed two very different sets of attitudes and assumptions that leaders may have about subordinates, called Theory X and Theory Y, and how these assumptions affect leader behavior. A leader's assumptions naturally are part of his or her mental model. Someone who assumes that people can't be trusted will act very differently in a situation than someone who has the assumption that people are basically trustworthy. Leaders have assumptions about events, situations, and circumstances as well as about people. Assumptions can be dangerous because people tend to accept them as “truth.”

J.C. Penney provides a good example. Ron Johnson, who helped create the popular and successful Apple retail stores, was hired to save J.C. Penney from a slow death, but he was �ired just 17 months into the job. Johnson's assumptions about the transformation, which included making stores and merchandise more upscale, were based on his experience with what worked at Apple. He created in-store “boutiques” with expensive shelving and signage and pushed stores to stock youthful, slim-�itting clothing and European designs, re�lecting a shift away from the retailer's core customers. The problem is that J.C. Penney isn't Apple. Customers �lock to Apple stores for cutting-edge, status- symbol products, but J.C. Penney's customers want basic clothing and home goods at low prices. Johnson's remake assumed the only department store customer that mattered was the one “who shops at Target or Macy's or Nordstrom's,” said Margaret Bogenrief of ACM Partners. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#TTQKZ3Q8PFY3KWF3L506) In 2015, Marvin Ellison took over as the third CEO at Penney in four years. One of Ellison's biggest jobs will be working with other top Penney's leaders to bring more realistic assumptions to the challenge of reinventing an iconic brand for a new era.

Stephanie Clifford, “Chief's Silicon Valley Stardom Quickly Clashed at J.C. Penney,” The New York Times (April 9, 2013), http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/business/how-an- apple-star-lost-his-luster-at-penneys.html?emc=eta1&_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/business/how-an-apple-star-lost-his-luster-at-penneys.html?emc=eta1&_r=0) (accessed April 24, 2013); Stephanie Clifford, “J.C. Penney Ousts Chief of 17 Months,” The New York Times , April 8, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/business/ron-johnson-out-as- jc-penney-chief.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/business/ron-johnson-out-as-jc-penney-chief.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) (accessed April 24, 2013); and Andrew Ross Sorkin, “A Dose of Realism for the Chief of J.C. Penney,” The New York Times , November 12, 2011, http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/a-dose-of-realism-for- the-chief-of-j-c-penney/ (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/a-dose-of-realism-for-the-chief-of-j-c-penney/) (accessed March 26, 2013).

As this example illustrates, it is important for leaders to regard their assumptions as temporary ideas rather than �ixed truths. The more aware a leader is of his or her assumptions, the more the leader understands how assumptions guide behavior and decisions. In addition, the leader can question whether long-held assumptions �it the reality of the current situation. Questioning assumptions can help leaders understand and shift their mental models.

5-2b. Changing or Expanding Mental Models

The mindset of top leaders has always played a key role in organizational success. A Harvard University study ranking the top 100 business leaders of the twentieth century found that they all shared what the researchers refer to as “contextual intelligence,” the ability to sense the social, political, technological, and economic context of the times and adopt a mental model that helped their organizations best respond. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#ACBVETXD1AHRW7UR1380) In a world of rapid and discontinuous change, the greatest factor determining the success of leaders and organizations may be the ability to change or expand one's mental model. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#ELGE69Z87WNP5L3R1165) Consider how Ron Rivera, head coach of the Carolina Panthers, expanded his mental model of how to lead a football team.

Anthony J. Mayo and Nitin Nohria, In Their Time: The Greatest Business Leaders of the 20th Century (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005).

Prasad Kajpa, “Steve Jobs and the Art of Mental Model Innovation,” Ivey Business Journal (May–June 2012), http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/steve-jobs-and- the-art-of-mental-model-innovation (http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/steve-jobs-and-the-art-of-mental-model-innovation) (accessed March 26, 2013); David J. Glew, Stephen C. Harper, and Jonathan D. Rowe, “Is Your Organization a Target?” Industrial Management (November–December 2010), pp. 15–20; Geoffrey Colvin, “The Most Valuable Quality in a Manager,” Fortune (December 29, 1997), pp. 279–280; and Marlene Piturro, “Mindshift,” Management Review (May 1999), pp. 46–51.

In the Lead Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers

Most NFL coaches keep the time they spend in the locker room to a minimum. Ron Rivera, head coach of the Carolina Panthers, used to do that too, but after asking for advice from �ighter pilots about how to promote honesty and trust, Rivera shifted his mental model from one of maintaining distance from players to one of getting to know and understand players at a deep personal level. Now he's in the locker room interacting with players all the time. “Unless you are exposed to them [in the locker room], when they let their hair down, you won't get to know them,” he says.

After being advised to “remove rank” when talking to subordinates, Rivera took a bunch of players to dinner and asked them to give honest feedback. He was amazed at some of the things he heard. “I'm blown away,” he said. “You guys should have told me!” That's when he embarked on a crusade to create a culture of total honesty, where players felt they could ask him or tell him anything. Rivera set up a second of�ice closer to the locker room and he regularly visits the training room and cafeteria, as well as the locker

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/business/how-an-apple-star-lost-his-luster-at-penneys.html?emc=eta1&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/business/ron-johnson-out-as-jc-penney-chief.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/a-dose-of-realism-for-the-chief-of-j-c-penney/
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http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/steve-jobs-and-the-art-of-mental-model-innovation
room, to interact informally with players. “I have answered questions in the locker room about whether a player should get puppies,” Rivera said. “I told them having a puppy is just like having a baby, there's a lot of responsibility.” * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#HVVEP4PWZ5Z9MQXQ2964)

Based on Kevin Clark, “The Coach Who Won't Leave the Locker Room,” The Wall Street Journal (October 13, 2015), http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coach-who-wont- leave-the-locker-room-1444755991 (http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coach-who-wont-leave-the-locker-room-1444755991) (accessed October 15, 2015).

Having closer personal relationships with his players helps Rivera monitor morale and smooth problems that might interfere with high performance. Leaders have to keep open minds and be willing to question assumptions and shift their mental models when new approaches are needed.

Organizations are vulnerable when leaders stick with obsolete mental models in the face of new realities. For example, market share for the BlackBerry smartphone has plummeted in recent years because leaders at Research in Motion stayed with what worked in the past and had a hard time shifting their mental model to keep the company competitive in an environment that changed quickly with the introduction of Apple and Samsung smartphones. On the other hand, leaders at Apple, particularly the late Steve Jobs, have been masters at shifting or expanding their mental models over the years. One researcher who interviewed Steve Jobs said he could “sometimes throw you off balance by suddenly adopting your position as his own, without ever acknowledging that he ever thought differently.” One reason Apple is so successful today, this researcher asserts, is that Steve Jobs was a genius at reframing issues and shifting mental models—his own, his employees', his partners', and his customers'. Before the iPhone, no one had ever thought of something like the App Store or the possibility of demanding a share of the revenue from wireless carriers, for instance. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#KNRQ838N3SW5EAUA1127)

Kajpa, “Steve Jobs and the Art of Mental Model Innovation.”

Unfortunately, many leaders become prisoners of their own assumptions and mindsets because these led to success in the past. They �ind themselves simply going along with the traditional way of doing things—whether it be running a business such as Research in Motion, managing a foundation, handling insurance claims, selling cosmetics, or coaching a basketball team—without even realizing they are making decisions and acting within the limited frame of their own mental model. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#MGHE73XYTNH62L0A7655)

Glew et al., “Is Your Organization a Target?”; Gary Hamel, “Why … It's Better to Question Answers Than to Answer Questions,” Across the Board (November–December 2000), pp. 42–46; and Jane C. Linder and Susan Cantrell, “It's All in the Mind (set),” Across the Board (May–June 2002), pp. 39–42.

One speci�ic challenge for the mental models of leaders is to navigate through ambiguities and complexities on a global scale that far exceed anything they encounter within their traditional management responsibilities. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#ZCYQM97LKHP3YA66E941) A global mindset can be de�ined as the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#VKYUD2BM4YTNXAA7P429) A manager with a global mindset can perceive and respond to many different perspectives at the same time rather than being stuck in a domestic mental model that sees everything from one's own limited personal or cultural perspective. One of the best ways managers develop a global mindset is by engaging with people from different cultures. Ken Powell, CEO of General Mills, says being given international positions early in his career convinced him that getting people out of their comfort zone was the best way to develop leaders. * (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#FBULNZ6Q4811PTAA8485)

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#HVVEP4PWZ5Z9MQXQ2964
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coach-who-wont-leave-the-locker-room-1444755991
https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#KNRQ838N3SW5EAUA1127
https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#MGHE73XYTNH62L0A7655
https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#ZCYQM97LKHP3YA66E941
https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#VKYUD2BM4YTNXAA7P429
https://content.ashford.edu/books/Daft.0283.17.2/sections/vphjlrhb6y4am7v6g128#FBULNZ6Q4811PTAA8485
global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset

the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics

global mindset the ability of managers to appreciate and in�luence individuals, groups, organizations, and systems that represent different social, cultural, political, institutional, intellectual, or psychological characteristics