I’m giving a workshop on August 2nd in St. Paul on systems. This isn’t something new to any of us. We think in systems intuitively. We are almost forced into it at time because systems are happening all around us in countless ways. The first step is to become aware of them – to explore them beyond the first couple of connections, to discover the feedback loops within them that can make the system rich and fascinating.

The second step is to apply what you’ve learned about your system, your business, to identify those key leverage points for change. This allows you to have the most positive impact possible in improving how your business functions and avoiding risk.

Systems can be complex, seemingly a tangle of interconnections, a maze of cause and effects. We can never totally understand them or control them, but in the words of Donella Meadows, we can dance with them.