The Big Picture: A Systems Thinking Story for Managers, Leaders, and other Visionaries

This is a story about Allan, a manager who starts off being very reactive and always “putting out the fires.” He gets rewarded for this type of behavior but in the process also alienates many of his direct reports and others in the organization. Slowly, he begins to learn more effective ways of interacting and incorporates the disciplines of systems thinking and organizational learning, to the huge benefit of himself, his colleagues, and his organization. Key Systems Thinking Principles, in addition to Action Learning Steps for Leaders, are provided at the end of each chapter for you to implement on your way to becoming more of a ‘big picture’ systems thinker!