Once Upon a Complex Time: Using Stories to Understand Systems (Brynteson, 2006)

Once Upon a Complex Time: Using Stories to Understand Systems (Brynteson, 2006)

Systems thinking is thinking with a wide-angle lens, a way of thinking about the whole instead of the parts. It is seeing connections and patterns in the isolated events that occur around us. Books about systems thinking have generally followed a pattern of moving from general principles to specific examples. In Richard Brynteson’s new book, Once Upon a Complex Time: Using Stories to Understand Systems, he takes a unique perspective. He reverses this traditional methodology by using stories to illuminate complex systems theory. Stories are a powerful teaching tool. They awaken and inspire to action, they touch people at a very deep level. The author uses stories from all aspects of life, some familiar, some personal, and looks at them through the lens of complex systems. Brynteson tells stories of people who did the opposite of what they desired because they did not understand the complexities of the system. Richard Brynteson’s systems stories invite the reader to examine ourselves and actions, to understand the complexities of life and to begin to use a wide-angle lens when viewing the world. Once Upon a Complex Time challenges the reader to look at organizations—and life—in a whole new way.

p.8 Systems thinking is thinking with a wide-angle lens, not a telephoto lens. Systems thinking is seeing the connections between parts, not just the parts themselves. Systems thinking is seeing the patterns and structures underneath events, not just the events themselves. Systems thinking is examining the time and distance between cause and effect. Systems thinking is circular, not linear, thinking. Systems thinking is an excellent problem-solving tool.

p.13 When something disconcerting happens, reflect on it to see if there were any other similar events that have also happened. What is the pattern? And if there is a pattern, what is the underlying structure causing the pattern?

p.20-21 The problem is that simplifying complexities leads to limited understanding. When we have limited understanding, we cannot solve problems effectively.

p.62 Biological and social systems have a limited carrying capacity. After that point, growth is limited by these forces.