Russell ("Russ") Ackoff had a profound capacity for using stories to educate his audiences on the basic concepts of managing systems, both in his books and in his lectures, including appearances at our 2005 and 2006 Forums.  He also had a profound way with words.   One of our favorite quotes (also, one our T-shirt designs) is his warning that "it's better to do the right thing wrong than the wrong thing right," a concept he claimed to have borrowed from his good friend, Peter Drucker.   The challenge, of course, is determining what is right to do, for such a label is far too easy to apply.   Yet, the outcomes are far too hard to see, especially when one is confident in the direction of action, and when the system is forever open to both known and unknown unknowns.   Should the system be small enough and finite (closed), the actions would always seem right. Only with expansion, in time and/or in space, could there be doubt as once unknowns become known.  

In appreciation of systems, Russ offered us advice (read his article) on how to steer past the time-honored traps that prevail in our traditional mechanistic thinking, which can lead us to narrowly judge efforts as either wasteful or non-value-added.   Instead, he encouraged us to shift our focus from managing actions, such as parts, tasks, and program elements, to managing the interactions between these parts, tasks, and program elements, being ever mindful of the value proposition of shifting our thinking to seeing ever-larger systems.   Such thinking mirrors the "Production Viewed as a System" advice that W. Edwards Deming offered his many audiences in Japan, including students such as Shoichiro Toyoda, whose humble beginnings led to Toyota's far reaching turnaround efforts (including their approach to Total Quality Control).  

In a recent conversation with author and management consultant, Doug Krug, a keynote speaker at our 2013 Forum, he shared a few lessons he's learned in 30+ years of engagement in turnaround efforts.  Doug commented on the self-described qualities and skills of the senior managers he has guided in his career.   When the topic of our conversation turned to questioning skills, he shared that curiosity is rarely acknowledged by senior managers as a leadership trait.   As such, how could these leaders suspect that the pending turnaround is but a left hand turn around a race track, leading left turn after left turn to the starting point of a need for another turnaround? From where will the cycle end and the right hand turn emerge with a vision for managing interactions and not the actions taken separately?  
   

Vince Barabba, a personal friend of Russ, joins us in June as our closing keynote speaker on the topic of A Practical Application of Systems Leadership.   Vince will "amplify the concepts of systems thinking through an application of the practice of architecture and home building. The reason I chose the building of the home is that while designing a new home, I was reminded that Russ Ackoff informed me that he got his first sense of systems thinking when he was being educated as an architect."