The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
Russell Ackoffthesystemsthinker.com
Saved by Keely Adler and
The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
Science, I believe, consists of the search for similarities among things that are apparently different; the humanities consist of the search for differences among things that are apparently similar. Science and the humanities are the head and tail of reality—viewable separately, but not separable. It is for this reason that I have come to refer to... See more
Russell Ackoff • The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
Identifying and defining the hierarchy of mental content, which, in order of increasing value, are: data, information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. However, the educational system and most managers allocate time to the acquisition of these things that is inversely proportional to their importance.
Russell Ackoff • The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
Identifying and defining the ways we can control the future: vertical integration, horizontal integration, cooperation, incentives, and responsiveness.
Russell Ackoff • The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
The principal function of most corporations is not to maximize shareholder value, but to maximize the standard of living and quality of work life of those who manage the corporation.
Russell Ackoff • The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
Problems are disciplinary in nature. Effective research is not disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or multidisciplinary; it is transdisciplinary. Systems thinking is holistic; it attempts to derive understanding of parts from the behavior and properties of wholes, rather than derive the behavior and properties of wholes from those of their parts.
Russell Ackoff • The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
The best thing that can be done to a problem is to solve it. False. The best thing that can be done to a problem is to dissolve it, to redesign the entity that has it or its environment so as to eliminate the problem.
Russell Ackoff • The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
I have very much enjoyed denying the obvious and exploring the consequences of doing so. In most cases, I have found the obvious to be wrong. The obvious, I discovered, is not what needs no proof, but what people do not want to prove.
Russell Ackoff • The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
The perceived need to learn something new is inversely proportional to the rank of a manager. Those at the top feel obliged to pretend to omniscience, and therefore refuse to learn anything new even if the cost of doing so is success.
Russell Ackoff • The Systems Thinker – A Lifetime of Systems Thinking - The Systems Thinker
Corporations tend to collect activities that they do not have the competence or even the inclination to run well.