System Dynamics / Complexity

Carving Up Gracie: The Loss of Integration
“You can’t carve up Gracie!” While this was initially brushed off as just a theatrical gesture that reinforces the important of integration, the “carving up Gracie” became a recurrent theme at the Gathering.

The Perfect Storm: Virus, Violence and Dysfunction
We have discovered that there might be a “perfect storm” operating at the point when these three systems interact. Pandemic virus meets race riot/police abuse meets government ineffectiveness.

Leading into the Future VIII: Language and Segmentalism
We are moving from a world that uses metaphors of sight (“having a vision of a future world,” “imagining an alternative”) to metaphors of speech (“finding one’s voice,” “telling one’s own story”). We are in a world where language has itself become reality and where globalization competing with a pull toward segmentalism.

Mapping Effective Covid-19 Engagement: Four Responses to the Challenge
At times we must bring together wisdom, courage and vision—so that we might move forward personally and collectively under the guidance of a coherent and integrated map of virus-engagement.

The Roots of Collaborative Innovation
Abstract This article follows Charlie Smith’s kind request to address Buckminster Fuller’s question from which he created his extraordinary inventive …

The Postmodern Condition: II. Troubling Ambiguity with Shifting Boundaries and Multiple Roles
Frederic Jameson speaks about the troubling ambiguities of the boundaries that exist in this new era. This troubling ambiguity exists at all levels-personal, group, organizational and societal.

Organizational Consultation: An Appreciative Approach–V. The Change Curve
We must expect any change effort to have an initial impact that is deleterious with reference to the achievement of these outcomes. A change curve accompanies any attempt to improve a situation.