Is Barack Obama an Integrative Thinker? A Designer? Or Both?

Integrative thinking and design have aspects in common, but are not the same thing. To think integratively is to reconcile opposing models. In business this means challenging received wisdom by taking a fresh look at an industry. But to do this, you have to be open to models that are different from your own, to practice inquiry rather than advocacy.

Thus far, this is similar to the design approach, but designers also have some other practices. Conceptual prototyping is one: designers sketch or construct models to try ideas out on a small scale. Both designers and integrative thinkers show empathy, the ability to see the situation from the perspective of somoene else, but user-centered designers also place a great deal of value on getting underneath what people say to understand their true feelings.

Where this may be applicable in the political realm is that both integrative thinkers and designers try to look at the broader system. In addition to pulling things apart (analysis) they put them together (synthesis) to form a broader view. This would be useful, for example, in the Middle East, where the President will need to consider the global impact of decisions made there as well as the local one. On the other hand, the opportunity to prototype things on a small scale will be limited.

I think we will be doing well if Obama shows himself to be a systems thinker - to appreciate the broader impact of his policies, and to show empathy with those impacted by them. I would not expect him to be a designer in the true sense, because experimentation is the essence of designing, but he could be an integrative thinker.