Quotes in systems thinking

There are three ways to get better figures... Improve the system... Distort the system... Distort the figures

the performance of the whole is never the sum of the performance of the parts taken separately, but it's the product of their interactions.

A system is never the sum of its parts its the product of their interaction.

Stamping out fires is a lot of fun, but it is only putting things back the way they were.

I achieved my goal by not my aim. That happens a lot, we honestly translate aims to goals. And then we do stupid things in the name of the goal that gets it the way of the aim. We forget the aim sometimes and put the goal in its place.

A company could put a top man at every position and be swallowed by a competitor with people only half as good, but who are working together.

The consumer is the most important point on the production-line.

The common objection to seniority pay is, "It's rewarding dead wood!" My response is, "Why do you hire dead wood? Or why do you hire live wood and kill it?"

In a system the best way to treat a problem is seldom where the problem appears, because of the interactions of the parts.

We need to work together to optimize the system as a whole, not to seek to optimize separate pieces... Optimizing separate pieces destroys the effectiveness of the whole. For the organization to work well as a whole, the components must work together.