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Systems Thinking Quotes

Browse 183 quotes about Systems Thinking.

Systems Thinking Quotes

“Commitment is not a word you give to others. It begins with the value you give to your own word. If you break your promise once, then the next time you say “I will do it,” people will listen, but they will not trust. Because trust is never in the promise. Trust is in the follow through. When you value your commitment, people respect you. When you break it, people doubt you. So before expecting anyone to believe your word, ask yourself one thing. Do you stand by what you say, or do you only say it?”

LeadershipBusinessResponsibilityTrustDisciplineCommitmentClaritySystems ThinkingRah Sal
Author:Thanzil Salam
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“A better system will not automatically ensure a better life,' Havel wrote. 'In fact, the opposite is true: only by creating a better life can a better system be developed.' The smallest choices you and I make, every single day, can change the world for better or worse. The simple act of refusing to live a lie has the power to transform who we are and what we are capable of, both as individuals and as a society. In other words, trying our best to live a congruent life is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves and each other.”

ScienceChangeJusticeProgressEthicsTransformationIndividualitySystemSystems ThinkingMinor
Book:Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions
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“It is important to address the (mis)perception that systems research is non-humanistic. To offer a short response, it is vital to remember that our civilization — a society where people live in towns or cities, communicate by writing, and build monumental structures , is a system connected by our relationships. The subject of systems cannot be more human.”

CivilizationHumanSystems ThinkingSystems
Book:5 Ideas from Global Diplomacy: System-wide Transformation Methods to Close the Compliance Gap and Advance the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
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“Metaruptions drive systemic disruption: The term metaruptions is an abbreviation of disruption with the prefix “meta.” A metaruption is a multidimensional family of systemic disruptions, including shifts in the notion of disruption itself. Metaruptions are characterized by the dynamic interactions of subordinate drivers of change. Metaruptions cause widespread and self-perpetuating effects that extend beyond their initial disruptions. As initial changes spill over, these impacts combine to propagate and modify other elements within the system, ultimately disrupting the disruption itself.”

ChangeDisruptionSystems ThinkingMetaruptionsMetaruption
Book:Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World
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“Meanwhile, the self can stand in the way of the Not-Self, interfering with the free flow of spiritual grace, this maintaining the self in a state of blindness, and also with the flow of animal grace, which leads to the impairment of natural functions and, in the long run, of the slower processes called structure. For each individual human being, the main practical problems are these: How can I prevent my ego from eclipsing the inner light, synteresis, scintilla animae, and so perpetuating the state of unregenerate illusion and blindness? And these practical problems remain unchallenged, even if we abandon the notion of an entelechy or physiological intelligencer, of an atman or pneuma and think, instead, in terms [of] systems...”

SelfAdvaitaSystems Thinking
Author:Aldous Huxley
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“Many people put in long hours and real effort, yet feel dissatisfied with the results. The problem is rarely the effort itself. It is the absence of direction. When work is done without clarity, energy leaks away. The same effort, when guided by a clear plan, creates stronger and more meaningful outcomes. Planning is not about slowing down work. It is about giving effort a path to follow. When effort and clarity move together, output naturally improves.”

GrowthLeadershipEffortDisciplineMindsetProductivityPlanningClarityDirectionSystems Thinking
Author:Thanzil Salam
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“Theoretically, artificial superintelligence could possess humanity’s combined cognitive capacity. In contrast, superstupidity could take on multiple features, including overreliance on the underlying “intelligence” of these systems. For instance, believing that AI can be a proxy for our own understanding and decision-making as we delegate more power to algorithms is superstupid. Perhaps AI is also superstupid, and may cause mistakes, wrong decisions, or misalignment.”

DecisionsDecision MakingSystems ThinkingAlgorithmsSuperintelligence
Book:Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World
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“WHEN YOUR TEAM FALLS, A LEADER SHOULD STAND BESIDE THEM NOT WITH EMOTION, BUT WITH CLARITY. Because when a team fails, the company feels it. And when the company shakes, every family behind it feels the impact. Support is important. But support without clarity will damage the system. Real leadership is helping the team rise, while protecting the structure that keeps everyone safe. Ask yourself one thing. Are you guiding your team, or just reacting to them? — Thanzil Salam”

LeadershipTeamDisciplineStructureClarityOwnershipSystems ThinkingCompany CultureRah Sal
Author:Thanzil Salam
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“In business, success is not about doing more—it’s about doing what works, again and again.”

FocusDisciplineSimplicityProductivitySystems ThinkingBusiness GrowthSuccess HabitsConservative PrinciplesEntrepreneur WisdomBusiness Efficiency
Book:Money's Dirty Little Secrets: How to Break the Rules, Get Filthy Rich, and Laugh All the Way to the Bank
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“Work takes a long time to complete because it sits in queues waiting for stuff to happen. It's not unusual for wait times to be more than 80% of the total time. Many organizations are blind to the queue problem. They tend to focus on resource efficiency instead of applying systems thinking to improve the efficiency of the whole system, end to end.”

Project ManagementSystems ThinkingLeanKanban
Book:Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow
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“Many man-made systems, including ICT systems, have positive feedback loops that cause certain local events to propagate and create extreme global behaviors. The extreme behaviors, especially unplanned downtime, become more common than stakeholders can accept. These outliers are modeled by probability distributions with thick tails. Unfortunately, classical methods for risk analysis based on predictions of future events tend to underestimate or ignore extreme global behaviors in complex adaptive ICT systems, even though these events may very well dominate the overall risk to stakeholders.”

RiskDesignArchitectureComplexitySystems ThinkingAntifragileIct
Book:Anti-fragile ICT Systems
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“Two examples illustrate the redundancy principle. First, when a virtual machine fails in a cloud-based system, an identical instance is started automatically. Second, a critically important system should have at least one secondary backup system that runs in parallel with the primary system to ensure a safe fallback. Leading up to the next principle, we note that the secondary system should differ from the primary system to avoid both failing for the same reasons.”

ComplexitySoftwareSystems ThinkingAntifragileIct
Book:Anti-fragile ICT Systems
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“Note that there is not a focus on eliminating failures. Systems without failures, although robust, become brittle and fragile. When failures occur, it is more likely that the teams responding will be unprepared, and this could dramatically increase the impact of the incident.”

ArchitectureOperationsComplexitySystems ThinkingAntifragileIctDatabase
Book:Database Reliability Engineering: Designing and Operating Resilient Database Systems
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