Slow down and take the systems view

“Don’t miss the forest for the trees.”

Did you know this advice is actually talking about systems thinking? In its pure form, it is an element of a disciplined way of thinking referred to as “general systems theory,” which evolved out of the study of biology in the 1920s. Author and MIT systems educator Peter Senge calls this thinking the “fifth discipline,” seeing the whole (the forest) as a framework for patterns and interrelationships.

Many of us are familiar with analytical thinking as a way to solve problems and respond to new challenges. Analytical thinking breaks everything into small components…