Quotes in systems thinking

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.

Errors of omission, lost opportunities, are generally more critical than errors of commission. Organizations fail or decline more frequently because of what they did not do than because of what they did.

Effective management must be directed at what you want, not against what you don't want.

The only way to find out what will happen when a complex system is disturbed is to disturb the system, not merely to observe it passively.

Toyota's real achievement is not merely the creation and use of the tools themselves; it is in making all its work a series of nested, ongoing experiments, be the work as routine as installing seats in cars or as complex, idiosyncratic, and large scale as designing and launching a new model or factory.

Systems are created, sustained, and improved by insightful and interactive work on the system, not by using carrots and sticks. Measurable goals do not improve systems; accountability does not improve systems. Improving systems improves systems.

A woodsman was once asked, "What would you do if you had just five minutes to chop down a tree?" He answered, "I would spend the first two and a half minutes sharpening my axe."

At a car dealership, the person who sells the car is the hero, and also gets the commission. But if the mechanics don't service that car well, the customer won't return.

Your purpose is to identify where in the process things go wrong, not who messed up. Look for systemic causes, not culprits.

Best efforts are essential. Unfortunately, best efforts, people charging this way and that way without guidance of principles, can do a lot of damage.