Why and How to Explain Systems Thinking
You’ve probably heard the famous quote from Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics and Nobel laureate: “If a scientist cannot explain to the cleaning lady in his laboratory what he is doing, then he himself does not understand what he is doing.”
This quote raises an important question: why should you be able to explain systems thinking to everyday people (colleagues, children, followers)? Isn’t that just a waste of time and energy?
The answers to these questions are a continuation of your educational journey in any subject, and, accordingly, a continuation of your self-development—that is, the development of your personality as a system. No matter what you study or do—physics, systems thinking, or AI—you start by focusing more on theory, and then gradually shift your emphasis to practice. You might feel that you already know many systems concepts, principles, and thinking techniques, but each time you revisit the theory, you approach what you’ve learned with a new neural network and notice something unusual, deepening your understanding.
When you explain complex ideas to others, you revisit what you’ve already learned and test your knowledge by applying it to real-life or work situations[1]. By explaining what systems thinking is to others, you:
- continue to layer your knowledge (like applying a second coat of paint), because as the saying goes: “If you want to understand something better yourself, explain it to someone else”;
- gain a deeper understanding of your own activities, increase your agency, and clarify why you’re investing so much time in complex knowledge. In other words, you’re constantly grounding yourself;
- literally start to create like-minded people among your close friends[2] and colleagues (influencing them), and you’ll be able to carry out work and personal projects with them in the future;
- engage in outreach and make the world a better place if you share posts on social media about your experiences and help popularize systems thinking.
Here’s one way to explain systems thinking as a worldview that you can use.
When you walk into an apartment, you quickly get your bearings. You have the right terminology to notice a lot yourself or to ask the right questions. You know what a kitchen is, how a bathtub differs from a shower, what a shared apartment is, and so on. That’s why you can make many decisions, whether you’re a buyer or seller, tenant or guest, manager or plumber.
In the same way, systems thinking helps you quickly make sense of any human activity and understand what’s what and how everything is interconnected. For example, you can identify the equivalent of “sellers,” “realtors,” or “burglars.” In other words, systems thinking is a kind of “lens” through which you can view work projects, your organization, or your own life. And not just view it, but also change the world.
This “lens” or worldview doesn’t develop in just a couple of months. Our brains literally need to grow new connections. However, if you study the relevant courses and apply this knowledge in real life, you’ll develop systems thinking much faster than the time you’ve unconsciously spent learning about the real estate market. And even if you know a lot about that market, you probably still know less than a professional. Many people know about their own work activities, but that doesn’t mean they have a systems-oriented perspective.
Fluent systems thinking works just like any worldview. For example, you arrive at a new company, and everything is clear to you, just as it is in an apartment. But knowing about apartments doesn’t mean you can easily do renovations or install new windows. Likewise, systems thinking isn’t a cure-all; you’ll still need applied methods. But you’ll already know that for “new windows” you need one set of suppliers, and for “installing a ventilation system” you need another. For you, any business activity is mapped out conceptually, just like any apartment.
Most adults probably understand how to renovate an apartment and where to start: what comes first, what comes next. If needed, anyone could easily write three to five paragraphs about what to pay attention to in any apartment or how to carry out renovations. In the same way, a systems-oriented person knows where to look first, and as they progress through the main AISYSTANT program, they learn how to improve any system or activity. This is how they become the Chief Transformation Officer of themselves, their family, or their company team—and perhaps, eventually, of a community or society.
I hope this helps you better understand the brief description in the first subsection, “How Systems Thinking Helps in Work Activities.” Based on this text and your own experience, you’ll be able to craft your own explanations of what systems thinking is. In doing so, you’ll continually improve your mastery of systems thinking.