Preface

Over the past 30 years, my academic and professional work has focused on leading in complex organisations and contexts, as well as preparing future executives to succeed in these environments. This theme has united my research in cooperative strategy (leadership in alliances and networks), my teaching in systems thinking and leading in complexity, and my consulting work with leaders navigating intricate institutional arrangements.

Much of the leadership curriculum in Western business schools originates from a post-war US industrial tradition, rooted in assumptions of stability, predictability, and simple causality. According to this tradition, if a leader adopts certain practices, followers will thrive and deliver exceptional outcomes. My work challenges this premise, starting instead with the understanding that the system, not the individual leader, is the more critical unit of analysis. However, agency still matters. What fascinates me is how those striving for change operate in the complex, conflict-ridden spaces characteristic of the challenges organisations and states face today.

I am drawn to the big picture and a multidisciplinary approach, an inclination that once created tension with my PhD supervisor but has ultimately been rewarding. As I write this book in early 2025, the demand for leaders who can make sense of the complexity of organisational life and broader social and economic phenomenon has never been greater.

Systems Thinking and the 21st Century Leader

In their study on the future of executive development, Mihnea and Narayandas (2022) identify managing complexity as a core characteristic of successful executives and organisations. They describe this as: “Skills essential to solving complicated, complex, ill-defined, ill-structured problems that arise in socially embedded, multi-user, multistakeholder environments.” (p. 15)

Systems thinking is uniquely suited to equip leaders with these skills, yet the discipline remains underrecognised and underutilised (Jackson, 2024). This book addresses three key reasons for this gap:

Pragmatism

Jackson, in Critical Systems Thinking: A Practitioner’s Guide (2024, xii), speaks of his “difficult journey from paradigms to pragmatism… in which theories are seen as instruments to guide action.” This practical orientation, long championed by Meadows (1993), underpins this book. I focus on theories that help leaders engage with real problems, aiming to convey the richness of systems thinking while emphasising its practical applications. This practical orientation also guides hard decisions about what to leave out. There are many useful and illuminating theories for each element of Systemcraft. However, to include them all would be to overwhelm the reader. My own interpretation of the 80/20 rule has guided my choice of what remains.

Language

As Russ Ackoff (1999) observed, until we communicate in a language our audiences can understand, neither they nor we will grasp the concepts we’re discussing. Systems thinking has been challenged for inaccessible jargon—terms like recursion, autopoiesis, and structural coupling—that alienate general management audiences (Lloyd and Chowdhury, 2024). My goal in developing the Systemcraft framework is translation; not to advance systems theory but to render it accessible and useful.

Overcoming Tribalism

Meadows (2008) described the ‘fractious schools of systems thought,’ and Jackson (2019) echoed this, expressing frustration with the field’s theoretical disputes: “It’s time to get on with it” (p. 636). This book adopts an agnostic approach, drawing on both Critical Systems Thinking and Systems Dynamics paradigms. Integration is attempted where it serves the reader, and I trust students and practitioners to form their own judgments.

Audience

As an educator, I teach MBA students and facilitate executive groups tackling complex issues in their domains. I picture their faces as I write this book, aiming to provide something both useful and accessible. These leaders are eager to test themselves and willing to engage with abstract concepts, but they need a more approachable entry point into systems thinking than is currently available. Most may never pursue study of systems thinking past their MBA or other postgraduate work but will practice systems thinking for all their professional lives. I hope the book speaks to them.

To guide this book’s development, I’ve used the metaphor of a chess game. The best way to learn is by mastering a few principles and starting to play. Over time, the subtlety and richness of the game, like the craft of systems thinking, can unfold through practice and reflection. This book is intended as a guide for those taking their first steps toward mastering the craft for themselves.

– Dr Kate Joyner, February 2025

References

1. Ackoff, R. L. (1999). Re-creating the corporation: A design of organizations for the 21st century. Oxford University Press
2. Jackson, M. C. (2019). Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity. Wiley.
3. Lloyd, M., & Chowdhury, R. (2024). A Life of Systems Thinking: Michael C. Jackson in conversation with Matt Lloyd and Rajneesh Chowdhury. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.3116
4. Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in Systems: A Primer. Chelsea Green Publishing.
5. Moldoveanu, M. C., & Narayandas, D. (2022). The future of executive development. Stanford Business Books.