In the interest of full disclosure, I am not big on business books. I have only read a few, but I find them a bore to go through. They're often unnecessarily long, repeating themselves and ideas that other people have shared in dozens (if not hundreds) of books before them with slightly tweaked terminology. I am one of the human sciences people spoken about in this book, focusing more on sociology/anthropology, literature, and philosophy, so the fact that I enjoyed this book and devoured it should tell you a lot already.
Moving on, what Madsbjerg and Rasmussen do here is provide an amazing new way to understand the challenges and shifts that a business must go through in order to survive (and thrive, ideally). Rather than merely making large claims and sweeping generalizations, they take their approach the way a philosopher does. First, they provide a short description of what "sensemaking" is by countering it to "default thinking," the dominant mode of thought in the business world today. From there, they look at the common default thinking patterns and begin to deconstruct them. They take care here, allowing themselves a good 50 pages (about 1/4 of the book's entire length) to these common ways of thinking and really dig deep into them. They unpack the assumptions and philosophies beneath these different forms of default thinking. You begin to see why businesses are destined to flounder and fail when they rely too heavily on these guides. And further, you learn why it is so difficult to get outside of these modes of thought. Even further, Madsbjerg and Rasmussen detail why traditional "outside the box" and "creative" thinking exercises fail as well; how they are merely extensions of already flawed understandings of people and business dressed up in a new gown.
Madsbjerg and Rasmussen are not merely destructive, however. They are very quick to give these modes of thought credit for when they are successful. They are just clear that these can only be successful in very specific situations and with very specific problems. It is when a business "enters a fog" and has no idea what changes are coming, how to prepare for them, or where they are going as a company that default thinking fails. Madsbjerg and Rasmussen describe why exactly default thinking fails in certain scenarios in order to drive home what is unique about their approach and why it is so sorely needed.
From here, Madsbjerg and Rasmussen provide an in-depth description of their method and its relationship with "the human sciences" (described above: sociology/anthropology, literature, art, philosophy, etc). Then, they detail four case studies of the correct and successful application of their sensemaking approach and the massive impact it had in correctly orienting their clients for the long haul. That is probably one of the strongest takeaways from this book: the sensemaking strategy and its findings are a foundation upon which success can be continually built. It provides an anchor of sorts, a better understanding of the company as a whole, its goals, values, and customers. From there, it is much easier to navigate the business world because you are seeing people as actual people, not as things or perfect marketing figures.
The last chapter is a description of how to take the sensemaking method into your own business and work yourself out of the fog. A very helpful chapter that really hammers home how useful and adaptable this method is and acts as a great jumping off point.
I believe that Madsbjerg and Rasmussen really added great value to the business world with this book. They took a daring approach that really seems quite obvious after they have finished stating their case. They provide impeccable logic to their argument, backing it up with lived experience and the human condition. I think this book has the potential to really change the business landscape and provides a great explanation for the use of the human sciences in not only the business world, but in everyday life as well.
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