Complexity is all around us, but do we really understand what it means? And how are financial markets and economic systems affected by it? In this post, Dr. Giovanni Siepe takes a systemic perspective. What is a system and what does complexity mean? There are many conversations taking place about complexity and complex systems. In […]
The Scottish Independence Vote – A Dilemma for Brave Hearts
The decision awaiting Scots tomorrow will shape the rest of their lives and those of their descendants. It will also impact the rest of the United Kingdom. Leading economists completely disagree about the implications. We give a personal (and genetically Scottish) take from a systemic thinking point of view. Anyone who has visited Scotland […]
Systems Thinking for Public Policy? Yes please.
Public policy can have severe unintended consequences. What can Systems Thinking do to bring results without the collateral damage? The Mayor of Somerville Mass. is applying systems thinking to creating public policy. An article in Governing.com informs about how linear logic drastically failed the Boston suburb of Somerville when a highway and […]
How to Manage an Organization through Complexity (Go Patriots)
How do we manage an organization to cope with complexity? It means understanding the organization as a system and seeing the interdependencies, something that the Patriots understand. Independence vs. interdependence What can the theory of systems tell us about managing organizations? First of all, if all the components that make up the system are independent, then […]
Don’t Cut Through Complexity: Understand it and Manage It (Sorry, KPMG)
KPMG has the tagline “Cutting through Complexity” which suggests they really don’t understand complexity at all. In order to deal with complexity, we first have to understand it, and then we can manage it. How? What does complexity actually mean? “Complexus”, the Latin word for “complex”, roughly means “twisted together”. In other […]
How Do I Make Use of Systems Thinking Stuff in an Organization?
Question: I have an organizational situation that I need to address and I’m not sure how to go about it. I’ve been hearing a lot about something called systems thinking and I’m interested in understanding what it is and how I benefit from it addressing the situation at hand. Your thoughts on how to pursue […]
Growth mindset? There’s an app for that – well, a thinking process tool
Do you feel as if you’re stuck the way you are or do you feel that you can grow? A book by a Stanford psychologist identifies a “fixed mindset” and a “growth mindset.” Depending on your mindset, you can profoundly influence your development and happiness. We look at a Thinking Process Tool to support continuous […]
The Rabbi, The Sales Expert and the Good Wife – the Power of the Authentic Network
What do a Rabbi, a Sales Expert and The Good Wife have in common? The problem of an authentic network. During the same day, a conversation with a rabbi, a talk by a sales expert and an episode of TV series ‘The Good Wife’ all had something in common: authenticity and how it affects our […]
How to See the Future with Science – Part Two on Predicting Process Behaviour
In Part Two of this article on predicting the future with science, we look at the tool from Statistical Process Control that helps us understand behaviour patterns in our processes so we can make more informed decisions. When is a process predictable? We say that a process is “predictable” when it is in a […]
Education Is A Serious Business
A new book by American journalist Amanda Ripley looks at highly reputed education systems in the world. Her findings on what makes these schools successful may be a surprise to many. In an article in the Globe and Mail, they condense the lessons learned form Ripley’s research into seven key points. We would like to […]
