Most probably:
- We would not put up anymore with the lack of intelligence that permeates the way politics and businesses are run today;
- We would not see as inevitable that insurance companies and Big Pharma control our health;
- We would stop trusting the claims made by the financial pundits and Wall Street wizards about how they boost our economy;
- We would stop believing that only our individual efforts and personal drive will, eventually, be the cause of our success as a country;
- We would stop believing that by competing with each other, one day we could be part of that 1% of the population that owns 80% of the wealth.
The way out of the crisis: the new economics
In his monumental work ‘The New Economics’, W. Edwards Deming states that:
‘It would be better if everyone would work together as a system, with the aim for everybody to win. What we need is cooperation and transformation to a new style of management.’
At Intelligent Management we have spent almost 20 years developing and implementing a methodology for organizations to deliver operationally what Deming was proposing. We have to transform the way we are, and we can only do so through cooperation and better thinking, by learning to connect the dots at all levels. The ongoing presidential elections in America and Brexit in the UK are painful indicators of the urgent need for this. Never before have we enjoyed such freedom to communicate and innovate. But in order for industries to innovate and prosper sustainably, they must be supported by infrastructures provided by governments. As Domenico Lepore puts it, these governments must be “cognizant that their role is to facilitate the growth of talent, protect everybody’s freedom to participate and venture, and help the weak and the poor to live with dignity.”
Learning to think
In order to live and prosper in this world of unprecedented interconnection, we have to learn at a much faster pace and we can only do so if we improve our ability to leverage our intellect and manage our emotions. From the Theory of Constraints we can access a whole body of knowledge and tools to foster the systemic approach and mindset Dr. Deming so passionately called out for. That’s why we developed the Deming and Goldratt approach of the Decalogue methodology. It’s for organizations but even children can and do learn to think differently thanks to the tools created by Dr. Goldratt.
As the educational year gets off to a new start, here’s a thought: it’s high time for schools and Business Schools to start teaching systemic thinking. Our very survival may depend on it.
Sign up to our blog here and shift your thinking towards broader, systemic possibilities for yourself and your organization.
About the Author
Angela Montgomery Ph.D. is Partner and Co-founder of Intelligent Management, founded by Dr. Domenico Lepore. She is co-author with Dr. Domenico Lepore and Dr. Giovanni Siepe of ‘Quality, Involvement, Flow: The Systemic Organization’ from CRC Press, New York. Angela’s new business novel+ website The Human Constraint looks at how Deming and theTheory of Constraints can create the organization of the future, based on collaboration, network and social innovation.
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