Category: Articles
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When to Simulate
Systems thinking offers an array of tools — from systems archetypes to computer models — for improving the quality of decision making. Knowing which…
Management Accounting: Catalyst for Inquiry or Weapon for Control?
Since the 1950s, accounting has increasingly become the “language” of business. The growing importance of accounting systems since that time has led to two…
Measuring a City’s Health
When you fly a plane, you need an instrument panel in front of you, with lights and dials telling you how well the parts…
Using “Tragedy of the Commons” to Link Local Action to Global Outcomes
Traffic jams . . . overfishing the Atlantic . . . last minute holiday shopping at the mall. A “Tragedy of the Commons” occurs…
Giving Up Your Soul Is Bad Business
During tough times, companies— and the people in them—tend to give up their souls. Workers put aside who they truly are, what they most…
Predicting Behavior Using Systems Archetypes
The adage “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” captures an old belief that something “known” is more valuable than…
Black-Belt Mastery of Mental Models
I recently got around to reading an influential book on …well, influence. Originally published in 1984, Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (reprinted…
Using “Limits to Success” as a Planning Tool
Any successful product or company begins with a plan for achieving success. But oftentimes people are better prepared for dealing with failure than for…
Conflicting Goals: Structural Tension at Its Worst
Susan is a task manager in an international development bank who finds herself ceaselessly pulled between satisfying client expectations on individual country projects and…
The “Aria” Approach to Conflict Resolution
If a leadership team asked me for the key to nurturing Tom Peters’s WOW organizations, to empowering people to learn and grow their companies…