Sensemaking summary

Sensemaking is needed more than ever today. Just look at how the Silicon Valley mind-set is threatening humanities-based thinking. After all, the proponents of Silicon Valley think that technology can fix any problem, no matter what it is.

However, this Silicon Valley mind-set is completely at odds with the five principles of sensemaking. Just look at three of Silicon Valley’s central precepts.

The first precept of sensemaking – that humans are defined by their cultural context – can be put to great use in business.

Ford did just this when the firm wanted to overhaul its luxury Lincoln automobile range. Times were bad for the Lincoln; it held a meager 5.5 percent share of the luxury car market. Of course, Ford had plenty of general data about the market situation and their customers. They knew how old Lincoln owners were and where they came from, but they lacked a deeper understanding of their customers' cultural context.

Thick data expresses what is significant in a culture. It captures more than plain facts by supplying the context.

Investor George Soros is a prime example of how thick data can be used to make a fortune.

The third precept of sensemaking directs us to collect thick data in the real world, not some realm of abstraction. Choose the savannah, not the zoo!

For instance, philosophy provides us with the concept of phenomenology. This means we should describe phenomena as they actually are and not as we think they should be.

How do you express the feeling when an idea arrives? You might use expressions like "it came to me” or “it dawned on me.” That’s because we often feel that ideas are revealed to us from an external source.

However, there’s a school of thought called design thinking which believes that ideas are generated by following a rigid mental process. In this way, creativity can essentially be manufactured. It’s as though knowledge and expertise have nothing to do with it!

At the US Naval Academy, students aren’t just trained to navigate using GPS satellite technology. They’re also taught how to plot a course using the night sky. For good reason. The best navigators should be able to interpret information from a variety of available sources – not just technology.

Sensemaking works like this too. It encourages us to interpret the world through social intuition, active listening and cultural context.