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Systems Thinking in Strategy
Strategy Through the System Glass
Why Business Leaders Need a New Lens for Managing Complexity
Have you ever tried to tighten a screw with a butter knife instead of a screwdriver? I felt frustrated as the knife slipped and turned a straightforward task into a mess. When I became an adult, I made a promise to myself: never again use the wrong tools when the right ones are available.
Traditional business strategy tools are like butter knives; they do the job, but there are better tools that take less time and effort, and you don’t need to put your fingers at risk.
This misalignment is not because the strategy tools are flawed, but because the foundational idea they’re built on is. Traditional strategy assumes reality is fundamentally predictable and controllable, and you can achieve your results with careful planning and execution.
However, this is not how the world works. Our reality is, above all things, interdependent. Fortunately, we have better tools to deal with interdependence, like systems thinking.
The Slippery Nature of Interdependence
Interdependence works as a messy network of threads. When you pull one side, you tighten some nodes and release…
