Capitalism is so much held in reverence that for some it is like a religion. In fact people proudly proclaim I’m a capitalist! Seemingly it provides the guiding principle for behavior and thus the basis for how to structure life. In effect (putting their faith in capitalism) people have allowed the pursuit of (personal) wealth [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Problem Solving’
Time to Get Heretical
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Progress, tagged Business of business, Change, Critical Thinking, Economy, human spirit, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, Systems Thinking on January 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Rethinking a Fixed System
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, tagged Business of business, Change, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Economy, human spirit, Leadership, Learning, Moral Values, partnership, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, relationships, Systems Thinking on January 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Is the system broken? No, not at all! It is fixed just as desired. Our economic system has no (explicit) concern for ‘we’ in its design, it is all about ‘me’ getting what I can for ‘myself’—it is best labeled an egoistic economic system. The pursuit of material self-interest is the guiding principle for [...]
A Wake Up Call
Posted in Change, Life, Problem Solving, Progress, Relationships, tagged Change, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Economy, human spirit, Learning, partnership, Problem Solving, Progress, Systems Thinking on December 17, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The fact that Wall Street and other corporate executives are not only allowed but helped in gaining so much from the general public while they generally thumb their nose at the general public is not the problem, though it is symptomatic of a serious problem. The fact that more and more people continue to lose [...]
Better Questions Afford Better Solutions
Posted in Education, Quality, Systems Thinking, tagged Decision-making, Education, human spirit, Leadership, Problem Solving, Quality, Systems Thinking on December 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
There seems to be a debate over the use of standardized test results for accountability as the way to improve student achievement, and thus our education system. Effectually, this debate is turning attention away from understanding the concrete educational experience toward the abstract measures. No wonder teachers and children have to be incentivized to respectively [...]
Rethink or Reload
Posted in Change, Economy, Life, Problem Solving, tagged Change, Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Problem Solving, Progress, Systems Thinking on October 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In his OP-ED column in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman briefly summarizes two books, “The Great Disruption” by Paul Gilding and “The Power of Pull” by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown & Lang Davison that each speak to the many social protests (a.k.a. The Great Disruption) we are seeing throughout the world—Occupy Wall [...]
Reformer Education
Posted in Education, Problem Solving, Quality, Systems Thinking, tagged Critical Thinking, Education, Learning, Problem Solving, Quality, Systems Thinking on October 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A recent Huffington Post article describes the agreement and disagreement between Arne Duncan (Secretary of Education) and Dennis Van Roekel (President of National Teachers Association) over the preparation and evaluation of teachers respectively. Sadly what is not being discussed—as can be inferred from the article—is the very process of learning.
Act on Causes not Outcomes
Posted in Economy, Problem Solving, Statistical Thinking, Systems Thinking, tagged Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Economy, Problem Solving, Statistical Thinking, Systems Thinking, Variation on September 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Properly reporting and interpreting the movement in the monthly unemployment rate requires one to have an understanding of variation. Yes, while it may be a surprise to many, monthly outcomes do vary from month to month irrespective of whether there is an identifiable cause—you can call this random noise. There are also variation patterns that [...]
Reductionism Can Reduce Everything
Posted in Problem Solving, Systems Thinking, tagged Complexity, Decision-making, management, organizational design, Problem Solving, relationships, Systems Thinking on August 7, 2011 | 4 Comments »
What is reductionism? It is the theory and practice of solving problems by placing attention on its simpler constituent parts or components. In other words, solving problems of the whole—which can be quite complex—can be realized by attention to the most important constituent—the one cause or the one outcome—of the whole. Moreover this approach to [...]
Cheating Is No Surprise
Posted in Education, Management, Quality, Systems Thinking, tagged Critical Thinking, Decision-making, Leadership, management, Problem Solving, Quality, Systems Thinking on July 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Many will acknowledge that while we may not measure what’s important, the important thing becomes what we measure. Why? It keeps us exclusively focused on what in-practice we (often tacitly come to) value.
Lean Understanding
Posted in Quality, Systems Thinking, tagged Business of business, Critical Thinking, Leadership, Learning, management, organizational design, Problem Solving, Progress, Quality, relationships, Statistical Thinking, Systems Thinking on May 8, 2011 | 2 Comments »
It is estimated that about 70% of organizations initiating lean programs don’t realize the promised or anticipated success. So it would seem that either lean is a bad idea or lean is not properly understood. Given Toyota’s notable success, I think we’ll go with the latter!
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