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Leadership 2.0 was going to be the title of
Jemima Gibbons’ book (see previous page),
until she realised that changing what leaders
Russ Ackoff
Russ Ackoff’s name has appeared many times in
do in organisations was just one of many this newsletter and is currently to be seen in
changes required by Web 2.0 and social magazines and newspapers around the world.
media. (Here’s a video clip of Jemima
The Dean of Systems Thinking and author of many
explaining about all that.) books including Management f-Laws (published by
Leadership 2.0
Triarchy), died recently at the age of ninety.
Here are extracts from just two obituaries. On
Which is a reminder that leadership is one of page 5 is a longer tribute from Rosie Beckham.
those elusive concepts... This from Rita McGrath at the HBR website:
…time and time again, when companies, Ackoff's ideas had a profound impact on
governments, people or systems begin to fail, business schools and on several generations of
the world calls for 'strong leadership'. But, in managers. At a time when business schools
most cases where leadership is deemed to be were becoming increasingly discipline-based
lacking, solving the problem turns out not to and quantitative, he was an ardent advocate
be as simple as replacing a weak leader with a for viewing problems systematically, across
intellectual boundaries, and with qualitative
better one.
insight. In the program he designed, we
Yes, we need strong leaders, but if we want learned to think the way architects do — to
to improve any system, we need to get beyond construct a whole solution out of constituent
the mindset that expects one person to be able parts that work together, rather than to
to wave a magic wand and fix it all. In optimize any given piece of the solution… He
particular, we need to ask the questions that had learned that all kinds of complex problems
could be tackled by first understanding what kind
will make a difference:
of problem one was facing, then by working to
- what exactly is 'leadership'? "dissolve" the problem.
- who is responsible for it? This by Steven Brant in The Huffington Post:
- what happens in the gaps between The world lost a very great man this past
people and job roles? Thursday. So great, in fact, that the only person
- what is needed to make sure that I can compare him to is Einstein. And that's
organisations are well led? because this man - Russell L. Ackoff, Professor
Emeritus of The Wharton School - transformed
Bill Tate has recently started a new blog that the world of problem solving just as Albert
responds to management and leadership issues in Einstein transformed the world of science.
the public eye and explores them from his Finally, listen to Peter Day’s tribute to a very
'systemic leadership' perspective. distinctive management genius. Here Russ Ackoff
Visit systemic-leadership.blogspot.com to highlights the way we have shifted from viewing the
read Bill's views about the MOD, Fred organisation as a mechanical entity (a machine) to
seeing it as a human entity (with a head) and now to
Goodwin, Haringey and Baby Peter Connelly,
seeing it as a social entity (a sophisticated set of
and the sacking of Professor Nutt. living, interacting components; a micro-society).
The brand new Systemic The theme of the move from mechanical to social is
Leadership Toolkit by Bill echoed in Ackoff’s later f-Laws (to be published as
Tate includes 9 sets of Systems Thinking for the Curious Manager with a
diagnostic questionnaires, foreword by Jamshid Gharajedaghi by Triarchy
implementation notes and Press early in 2010).
revealing case studies -
designed to guide any Join the Ongoing Discussion at the
organisation through the
process of assessing and In2:InThinking Network
improving its leadership. 17th & 18th December ~ teleconference with Bill Bellows and other
The Toolkit is based on Friends of Russell Ackoff
Bill's book, The Search for Formed by students of Deming and other theorists, the network aims
Leadership, published in to make thinking about systems, variation, knowledge and
May 2009 by Triarchy Press. psychology (and their interaction) - more conscious.
To join the discussion: register here ~ In2InThinking is here.
For details, visit thesearchforleadership.com
www.triarchypress.com
• Russ Ackoff’s Management f-Laws have
Triarchy books online their own site at www.f-laws.com
• As does Bill Tate’s Search for Leadership
We’ve already mentioned the Triarchy at www.thesearchforleadership.com
publications you can see at Scribd. There are • And Phil Smith’s magical Mythogeography
32 books, chapters and book extracts which at – you guessed – www.mythogeography.com
you can search and preview. Some are for where you can learn to:
sale, others you can download free of charge.
- walk like a
crab
For example, there’s a 29-page preview of
Monkeys with Typewriters (see previous - explore the
page), the late Russ Ackoff’s Little Book of f- seamy
Laws and much more. underbelly
of Devon
You can also read copies - cross the
of our co-publications Pennines in
with the IFF free online. the
For example, visit our footsteps of
site for the wonderful Pontiflunk,
Ten Things to Do in a - learn about
Conceptual Emergency. the history
(Conceptual emergencies of the Air
include, of course, the Loom in
current state of our Victorian Bedlam,
planet. This lovely little book would make a
- and ever so much more…
great Christmas present 1 for anyone who’s
worried about that sort of thing.)
You can also buy, download and read The Espresso Book Machine
groundbreaking self-assessment management
audits on: If that’s not enough, you can now get a copy
• Innovation of most of our books printed on an Espresso
• Customer satisfaction Book Machine®. This is particularly useful if
you happen to live near one. The full, current
• Writing a strategic marketing plan list of EBM installations is available here, but
• The shadow side of organisations don’t get excited if you live outside North
America, the library of Alexandria, Melbourne
• Employee motivation
and London.
• Training and Development
from our sister company Cambridge Strategy
Publications.
1
Other rituals are available
www.triarchypress.com
A tribute to Russ Ackoff by Rosie Beckham
I first encountered the ‘Dean’ of Systems Thinking But Russ knew that most people in the business
after he had contacted Triarchy with a proposal to and policy-making world insist on ‘doing the wrong
publish a collection of his ‘Management f-Laws’. thing righter’ (a term picked up from Peter Drucker).
After working closely with him over many months, he This frustrated and irritated him. Last spring, I e-
became a good friend. Even when I left publishing, mailed him about the Presidential campaign and the
he kept in regular touch. Each time he contacted level of hope being invested in Obama. His reply was
me, he made me interrogate the typically acerbic:
complacency of my thinking. “The optimism and "we can do it"
He once rebutted my suggestion attitude that you observe is
that he was a living ‘legend’: ‘I'm probably restricted to the student
not sure what being a legend population. There is a great deal of
implies,’ he wrote, ‘but it seems skepticism if not cynicism, among
retrospective and I'm still those in my generation with whom I
prospective.’ I guess he felt that have contact. It is generally agreed
being a legend in his own lifetime that Bush has led a devolution of
was unhelpful to his work which, this country and there is doubt that
whilst he was still breathing, he a democratic president can pull it
considered to be an open-ended out. However, there is certainty
project. Rightly in my view that a republican can't.”
however, there is little hope that He cared deeply about this state
his wish to cast aside this of affairs. He understood that in
legendary status will be respected. order to change and learn you
Whilst it was appealingly must be allowed to do the right
disingenuous of him to wish that thing, even if that means making
his thinking could be detached mistakes; but that most politicians
from his reputation as a great reject the very notion of a public
man, the most effective examples admission of possible errors.
of Systems Thinking in practice will be evidenced That awareness of resistance to change never
by people who collaborated with him, and who will stopped him trying to inculcate a fundamental shift
carry his work forward. For Russ’s astonishing in attitudes. He wrote to think, and he thought
written output is indivisible from his years deeply every day. In another e-mail he said:
teaching at Wharton or working with corporates “I am doing some work on a manuscript:
and government; it is the combination of Differences that make a Difference — a glossary
collaboration and intense personal thinking that of distinctions that matter. For example;
made him such a radical genius. His legacy will lie development versus growth, education versus
in the dissemination and continuation of his work training, and management versus leadership.”
by so many former students and practitioners.
But Russ did more than think through writing. In
His 2007 UK book tour afforded readers able to 2007, he told me about a more active project:
attend his dialogues with co-author, Sally Bibb, a
face-to-face encounter with one of the most witty, “My major current activity involves a new not-for-
acutely acerbic thinkers of the post-war period – profit tax-free corporation — Adopt a Neighborhood
ironically, reinforcing the sense of ‘legendary’ that for Development. We have one corporate sponsor
he resisted so strongly. His collection of f-Laws and several others in the wings. With the one
turned management thinking on its head: providing sponsor we have one disadvantaged neighborhood of
an ironic and often subversive take on how 22,000 involved in a self-development project. We
organisations really work. He saw them as keys to hope eventually, to cover this city, then other cities
his Systems Thinking. His humour and synthetic in the USA, and then cities abroad. I don't know that
thinking was a deadly but effective weapon against we will ever get there but it is worth the try.”
the reductionist, analytical approach. This wasn’t an exercise in CSR but a reflection of
That Ackoff relished diversity is another key to his his overall philosophy in which the political,
greatness - diverse perspectives, as Gerard economic and social are all seen as part of an
Fairtlough pointed out about him, acting as an interacting, interdependent human system. One
‘antidote to blinkered thinking.’ This is arguably a that, if you really want to get things right, will
characteristic common to all great polymaths, for inevitably lead to you doing the right thing. These
it is certain that only a polymath could come up examples point to a remarkable consistency
with the profound shift in thinking required to between his thinking and his actions in what he
develop Systems Thinking and Operational Design. described as the ‘art’ of Systems Thinking.
He exploited a diversity of views and perspectives Russ made light of the badges of honour thrust
to ‘take a break’ from his own thinking processes; upon him, such as being a legend in his own time.
they tested his boundaries and, at best, allowed Happily for us, his work will continue to provide a
him to expand or break free of them. legacy that deserves the accolades. Rosie Beckham
www.triarchypress.com