ABSTRACT
All of us make assumptions concerning how the world works. These assumptions form frameworks or mental models. And they influence our judgments, attitudes, and behaviors, as well as our abilities to change. This chapter examines the lens through which companies view how the world works – in other words, companies’ mental models.
The chapter provides a four-category framework for understanding the mental models that guide how companies do business. It compares how the mental models of the truly sustainable companies differ from those in the other three categories. People in truly sustainable companies hold unique assumptions that guide their approaches to carrying out their business. For example, they tend to frame their organization’s role in the world differently from others. And truly sustainable companies are more likely to follow an outside-in vs an inside-out business approach to framing their business models and how this impacts their change-related capabilities.
The chapter reviews common biases in thinking that can prevent change, including confirmation bias, the curse of knowledge, false consensus, naïve realism, and groupthink. The chapter offers advice on how to uncover thinking biases and how to challenge the status quo. The chapter ends with a self-assessment of thinking biases and a template for action planning to uncover and address our own thinking biases.
