Empowering Good teams to be Great!
Digging Beneath the Surface In every organisation, we encounter problems that seem persistent—repeating with frustrating regularity despite our best efforts to fix them. Projects stall. Performance dips. Clients churn. Safety incidents reoccur. Most people respond by patching the surface. But […]
In the realm of systems and strategic thinking, one of the most powerful tools we can use to understand complex dynamics is the stock and flow model. While the name might sound abstract, the concept is remarkably intuitive—and once grasped, […]
Navigating the Ceiling of Systems In systems thinking, the concept of Limits to Growth is a powerful archetype that reveals why well-intentioned strategies often fail to scale indefinitely. Many leaders celebrate initial success—only to later become baffled when momentum stalls, […]
Running to Stay in Place In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, the Red Queen tells Alice, “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” This phrase has come to define a powerful systems thinking […]
Strategy in the Age of Emergence “In the real world, systems are not static; they evolve. And in that evolution lies both risk and opportunity.” When thinking strategically in dynamic environments—be it in business, government, or community transformation—it is critical […]
Tragedy of the Commons When everyone maximises individual benefit, the system collapses for all. In 1833, economist William Forster Lloyd observed something both simple and tragic. When multiple herders share a common pasture, each acting in their own self-interest by […]
“More” is not always better. Sometimes, it’s just more. In strategy and systems thinking, one of the most misunderstood—and most misapplied—principles is the Law of Diminishing Returns. Popularized in classical economics but with profound implications for systems design, business strategy, […]
Designing Strategic Systems That Get Stronger Under Stress In the world of systems and strategic thinking, one concept stands above many for its power to reframe how we approach risk, uncertainty, and performance over time: Antifragility. Coined by Nassim Nicholas […]
When the Whole Becomes More Than the Sum of Its Parts In systems and strategy, some of the most powerful outcomes don’t come from top-down direction or pre-programmed design. They arise organically—from the bottom up—through the interaction of parts in […]
Small Causes, Monumental Consequences in Strategic Thinking In systems thinking, few concepts are as poetic and profound as the Butterfly Effect. Borrowed from chaos theory, it refers to the idea that tiny inputs in complex systems can produce massive, unpredictable […]
Endurance as a Predictor of Longevity “If a book is still in print after 40 years, there’s a good chance it will still be read in another 40.”— Adapted from Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the Lindy Effect 📌 Introduction: What […]
Harnessing Complexity in Strategic Thinking Chaos Theory: In the high-stakes world of executive leadership, it’s tempting to seek control, predictability, and order. We crave clear roadmaps, linear outcomes, and repeatable processes. But what if the most transformative insights come not […]
Clarifying What Must Go Right for Strategic Execution “Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it’s about deliberately choosing to be different.” — Michael Porter In systems and strategic thinking, no concept is more misunderstood and yet more powerful than the […]
Where Small Shifts Create Big Impacts In the realm of complex systems—whether in business, society, or biology—there exist hidden spots where a small, well-focused push can produce a disproportionately large effect. These are called leverage points. For executives and systems […]
Focusing on the Limiting Factor in Systemic Performance “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” In systems thinking, one of the most underappreciated yet powerful mental models is the idea of bottlenecks and constraints. Identifying and managing […]
Harnessing the Hidden Power of Self-Reinforcing and Self-Correcting Dynamics in Executive Leadership In the dynamic systems that shape business, society, and life, feedback loops are the invisible threads weaving cause and effect into cycles. Whether you’re scaling a company, transforming […]
How to Guard Against Seeing Only What You Want to See In the intricate world of executive decision-making, one of the most seductive mental traps is confirmation bias—our innate tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information in a way […]
Learning from the Missing Voices In the world of decision-making, what you don’t see often matters more than what you do. Survivorship Bias is the tendency to focus only on the people or things that made it past a selection […]
Why What’s Top of Mind Can Lead You Astray Imagine you’ve just watched a documentary about a plane crash. The next day, you’re offered a flight for a work trip. Suddenly, your gut clenches. Flying feels riskier—even though you know […]
The Hidden Hand Behind Many Poor Decisions “Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.”— Charlie Munger Every executive knows that incentives drive behavior—but few appreciate just how deeply they shape our […]
