Wayne Madden’s Blog

The first systems thinking building blocks we examined were the two types of feedback – reinforcing and balancing (see “Building Blocks of Systems Thinking: Obvious & Hidden Forces”). We are now going to take a close look at a building block that can be quite subtle and yet, have significant impact on your decisions and [...]

It is very likely that most of you approach business challenges and decisions using only two sets of eyes, or said another way, from two points of views. You certainly assess them from your own point of view (your eyes) and all that comes with that. You are a primary stakeholder in any decision. Your [...]

Having published the first article in this series, ”Confessions of a Systems Thinking ‘Newbie’”, I now want to turn my attention to the first true building block of systems thinking, the simple concept called “feedback.” Of course, when I say feedback, you may immediately start thinking of the meaning of that term in light of [...]

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net What are the priorities in your organization? Please note that I am going to use the word “priorities” in this article because I frequently hear executives talk about their “top priorities” for the organization. While I am using that term, I am [...]

Image courtesy of basketman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net In my last post, Raise Your Competitive Thinking IQ: Introduction to Systems Thinking, I laid the foundation of “why” systems thinking is so relevant and important for today’s business leaders and decision makers and also touched briefly on “what” systems thinking is all about. In [...]

In your business, have you heard someone make statements that include phrases like, “If we had only known that …”, or “I wish I could have seen that coming.”, or “We didn’t make that connection.”? While there are certainly times that something totally “unpredictable” occurs in life or business, I assert that many of the [...]

Image Courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Very few people work alone. Most of you participate in a work environment where you interact with others to get the job done and the quality of that interaction has a direct effect on how you feel about your work, and can even bleed [...]

As we continue this series titled “Raise Your Competitive IQ,” this fourth (of five planned) posts on the topic may seem quite unnecessary to some of you. After all, it would seem perfectly logical to encourage and listen to all voices in a conversation where you want to encourage the best thinking. However, we all [...]

Image courtesy of nongpimmy / FreeDigitalPhotos.net What gets in the way of innovative thinking in business? Whether you are personally reflecting on a particular problem you would like to solve, considering new opportunities, developing a new product or service, resolving customer issues, or working with a group for similar purposes, [...]

In every conversation, whether between two individuals or in a group setting, there are the words that are spoken and those words shape the thinking of all involved and ultimate the decisions that and individual or the group makes. However, there are also many unspoken words during that conversation that perhaps have even more power [...]

One very clear and dominant resistance (whether passive or active) present in all of us, both to change and innovative thinking, are ingrained and accepted ways of doing things or thinking about things that are familiar, comfortable, and just part of us as human beings. The most popular author to write about this is perhaps [...]

There is no doubting the value of business intuition. We admire those in business that demonstrate uncanny intuition about next steps, new products, market trends, opportunities, and unforeseen roadblocks that mud be addressed. Every person demonstrates intuition in certain areas where that person has vast experience, intimate knowledge of certain situations, or key knowledge of [...]