Thinking Differently
It's high time to resume expansion of our global outlook.
I'm pleased to announce an article I co-authored with scholar, social activist and author, Riane Eisler, has just been published in The Systems Thinker, a quarterly publication targeting leaders of systemic change in organizations and communities throughout the world.
In case you're not entirely clear about what is meant by systems thinking, you might find it interesting that's systems thinking is already incorporated in many fields when it comes to innovation and change for what ails our businesses and society.
For example, I'm working with a client who uses Agile software development, which is based on systems practices. In the performing arts we know it as improvisation. In physics its the basis of string theory. Systems thinking is driving much of the leading edge work occurring in the physical and life sciences, engineering, design, the social and behavioral sciences -- and even the arts.
Here's one example that might help connect the dots.
You may have heard about TED, a most unusual conference and awards program featuring some of the most accomplished innovators of our time. TED speakers and award winners share stories about amazing accomplishments in technology, entertainment, design, business, science culture, art and a host of global issues.
Weary of the typical election year diatribes, I happened upon a recent TED talk by Peter Diamandis. Diamandis runs the X Prize Foundation, which gives rich cash awards to the inventors and engineers who'll get us back to the moon, build a better car and explore the genome. At TED he recently spoke about the moral imperative to explore space and what's ahead with light-weight, low-cost jets that can fly outside the earth's atmosphere and into space! It's called, "The Next Giant Leap."
Amazing things are happening all around us, yet we seldom hear these stories from network or cable new media. Perhaps its time we demanded more from pop journalism than gossip or innuendo at a time when so much is at stake on a global and even planetary level.
Yes, there are plenty of challenges to which we should give our attention, but how we pay attention has everything to do with what can be done about it. The most important challenge of our times is not what we do about the energy crisis, terrorism, global warming or space exploration. The most important challenge is how we learn to think about what is wrong, how it came to be that way and how to change it. Why?
How we think skews our perspective about what is possible.
Systems thinking tools help expose how things work together and how to change what might seem unchangeable. Einstein once said, "“Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current patterns of thought.” Hmm?
When people feel discouraged about the state of the world, they often say to me, "nothing really changes." The opposite could not be more true. Change never stops and as it continues things get more and more complex, i.e. the global economy, global warming, the domestic economy, foreign relations, the fullness of our modern lives and all the mechanisms we have to communicate... provide both more ways to get it right AND more ways to get it wrong.
Maybe one reason "nothing seems to ever really change" is because we keep trying solve our problems using the same thinking we've been using for for centuries. It's no wonder that with the occasional exception, the results are, you know . . . the same.
We have no shortage of opinions about what should be done, right? But how often do we stop and ask, "How is our thinking about the solution truly different from the thinking that created the problem?
At this point, many of us would say, "I don't know what else to do!" One thing we can do is to start thinking differently about the problems as well as the solutions. And many other resources built on systems theory.
That TED video is about the first light-weight jet capable of leaving the atmosphere and how it was funded by an organization whose mission is "to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity." Pretty amazing stuff that most people never hear about. The connection between this kind of innovation and what ails societies is that there are some very amazing things happening that come about by thinking creatively and differently. They can serve as reminders of what is possible when we stop trying so hard to solve our problems with the same thinking that created the problem.
What is new about the way you are thinking about your problems?
I'm pleased to announce an article I co-authored with scholar, social activist and author, Riane Eisler, has just been published in The Systems Thinker, a quarterly publication targeting leaders of systemic change in organizations and communities throughout the world.
In case you're not entirely clear about what is meant by systems thinking, you might find it interesting that's systems thinking is already incorporated in many fields when it comes to innovation and change for what ails our businesses and society.
For example, I'm working with a client who uses Agile software development, which is based on systems practices. In the performing arts we know it as improvisation. In physics its the basis of string theory. Systems thinking is driving much of the leading edge work occurring in the physical and life sciences, engineering, design, the social and behavioral sciences -- and even the arts.
Here's one example that might help connect the dots.
You may have heard about TED, a most unusual conference and awards program featuring some of the most accomplished innovators of our time. TED speakers and award winners share stories about amazing accomplishments in technology, entertainment, design, business, science culture, art and a host of global issues.
Weary of the typical election year diatribes, I happened upon a recent TED talk by Peter Diamandis. Diamandis runs the X Prize Foundation, which gives rich cash awards to the inventors and engineers who'll get us back to the moon, build a better car and explore the genome. At TED he recently spoke about the moral imperative to explore space and what's ahead with light-weight, low-cost jets that can fly outside the earth's atmosphere and into space! It's called, "The Next Giant Leap."
Amazing things are happening all around us, yet we seldom hear these stories from network or cable new media. Perhaps its time we demanded more from pop journalism than gossip or innuendo at a time when so much is at stake on a global and even planetary level.
Yes, there are plenty of challenges to which we should give our attention, but how we pay attention has everything to do with what can be done about it. The most important challenge of our times is not what we do about the energy crisis, terrorism, global warming or space exploration. The most important challenge is how we learn to think about what is wrong, how it came to be that way and how to change it. Why?
How we think skews our perspective about what is possible.
Systems thinking tools help expose how things work together and how to change what might seem unchangeable. Einstein once said, "“Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current patterns of thought.” Hmm?
When people feel discouraged about the state of the world, they often say to me, "nothing really changes." The opposite could not be more true. Change never stops and as it continues things get more and more complex, i.e. the global economy, global warming, the domestic economy, foreign relations, the fullness of our modern lives and all the mechanisms we have to communicate... provide both more ways to get it right AND more ways to get it wrong.
Maybe one reason "nothing seems to ever really change" is because we keep trying solve our problems using the same thinking we've been using for for centuries. It's no wonder that with the occasional exception, the results are, you know . . . the same.
We have no shortage of opinions about what should be done, right? But how often do we stop and ask, "How is our thinking about the solution truly different from the thinking that created the problem?
At this point, many of us would say, "I don't know what else to do!" One thing we can do is to start thinking differently about the problems as well as the solutions. And many other resources built on systems theory.
That TED video is about the first light-weight jet capable of leaving the atmosphere and how it was funded by an organization whose mission is "to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity." Pretty amazing stuff that most people never hear about. The connection between this kind of innovation and what ails societies is that there are some very amazing things happening that come about by thinking creatively and differently. They can serve as reminders of what is possible when we stop trying so hard to solve our problems with the same thinking that created the problem.
What is new about the way you are thinking about your problems?
Labels: systems thinking global
posted by Lucy Garrick at
4:51 PM
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