Join Ed and Ron as they discuss the book by William Donaldson, PhD: Simple_Complexity: A Guide to Systems Thinking. Systems are both simple and complex, which contain amazing constructs that one often must marvel. Systems also have a mind and a rhythm of their own. The parts do not exist independent of the whole, and you can't understand the parts without understanding the whole, and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Your organization's culture is an emergent property of your system. If you want to change the culture, you have to change the system, which is comprised of three components: Elements; Interactions; and Purpose. Hat tip to Mark Gandy at CFO Bookshelf for interviewing the author of this excellent book.
Use these show notes to follow along with the audio.
Segment one:
Systems thinking is overlooked especially in the leadership literature which is why Ron and Ed are addressing it today. Here is the book they are using as a guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08M69KKL6?tag=verainst-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1
Ron and Ed talked systems thinking way back in episode number 175, “The Laws of Systems Thinking” https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/175
Here's the disastrous car Homer built on The Simpsons
Ron and Ed mentioned their interview with Margaret Wheatley on the show today. Episode number 308 and here is the link https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/308
The Time’s Up Club features FREE FOREVER audio summaries from Ron’s new book, aptly named Time’s Up. Check it out here https://timesupclub.com/
Segment two:
Through the book, Simple_Complexity, Dr. Donaldson features two words often: behold and beware. Behold the system. Beware of the system. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08M69KKL6?tag=verainst-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1
Dr. Donaldson talks about the three components of a system in his book: elements, inner actions, and purpose https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08M69KKL6?tag=verainst-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1
Ed referenced a GREAT quote on the show today, “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine the can design.” ―F. A. Hayek
Here is a link to the video Ed referenced with monkeys, bananas, and a water cannon. No animals were harmed in the making of this video. At least, I don’t think they were. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BUstrn_DKs
Segment three:
The idea of the hermeneutic circle is to envision a whole in terms how the parts interact with each other, and how they interact with the whole. https://nesslabs.com/hermeneutic-circle#:~:text=The%20concept%20of%20the%20hermeneutic,they%20interact%20with%20the%20whole
When thinking about systems, Ron loves to reference the Airline Triple Crown of lost luggage, customer complaints, and on time departures
Read this QUICK story called “The Space Shuttle and the Horse's Rear End”. Ed brought it up today and it’s amazing. https://www.astrodigital.org/space/stshorse.html
“Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions” is a quote from Peter Senge’s 11 Laws of Systems Thinking. Ron and Ed did a whole show on this https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/175
Segment four:
An idiom from the show today with a link to more details: “The paper will not refuse the ink.” https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/paper+never+refused+ink
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