This post is an excerpt from Chapter 7 of Systems Thinking Made Simple.  A New Kind Of Logic There is always an underlying logic implicit in both informal and formal systems thinking methods. Making the logic explicit leads to clarity of thought and deeper understanding of concepts. Logic is any system of principles that guides one’s thinking. It need not be formalized or even conscious. All of us use logic every day without an awareness of what it is or where it came from. Systems thinking as a method also has an underlying logic.

"Leapfrog Leaders" written by Drs. Derek Cabrera, Laura Cabrera and Hise Gibson applies existing knowledge about the elements of systems thinking to a widely used decision making framework called SOT. SOT stands for Strategic, Operational, and Tactical - which are are thought to be the three levels of problem solving. More specifically, this paper offers readers insight into the skills needed at each level of decision making; as well as how to develop them through an understanding and application of the basics of systems thinking and leadership.

In our jig series, we have explored many jigs such as a Barbell Jig, which combines the patterns R, D and S to create new molecular structures. In this post, we explore the "System of Relationships" jig or "S-of-R". A system of relationships is a part-whole system where the parts are relationships. Usually, (although not always) the relationships act together in some way to make up a meaningful system (as opposed to just being parts of a system of relationships without any dynamical properties or similarities). In other words, it is a jig where a set of relationships work together to form a system. 

This post is an excerpt from Flock Not Clock: Chapter 1.  Flawed Mental Model 4: Utilize Fourth (in the traditional model), flow charts, org charts, and plans only work when we have enough human power, so we’re going to need some human resources. 

This post is an excerpt from Flock Not Clock: Chapter 1.   Flawed Mental Model 3: Control Next (in the traditional model), we need a control structure. We need processes because we need to make sure that we understand every single step of a process that has not happened yet and that will constantly be changing.

This post is an excerpt from Flock Not Clock: Chapter 1.  Flawed Mental Model 2: Command Second, we need a command structure. 

This post is an excerpt from Flock Not Clock: Chapter 1.     Our more complex problems come about when how we think our organization works is out of alignment with how it actually works.

The Last Lecture Each semester, Dr. Derek Cabrera does a “last lecture” to close out the year for his students. This  year, due to Coronavirus, his lecture was virtual, however the silver lining of this is that we got it on tape.

You don’t get to choose whether your organization is a complex adaptive system. All organizations are complex adaptive systems because they are made up of individuals (agents) adapting to their environment. The behavior of an organization—an emergent 

The corporation, as we know it today, arose out of World War II. With the United States transitioning into an actual industrial economy, the workforce became categorized into white- and blue-collar jobs.

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 4  This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs." Be sure to check

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 8  This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs." Be sure to check

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 8  This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs." Be sure to check out the tag to read them as a group and learn how cognitive jigs are at play in our everyday lives. Graphs are immensely useful in every discipline of knowledge. Understanding DSRP not only reveals the implicit structure of graphs but also allows us to 

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 2 The British mathematician George E.P. Box said, "All mental models are wrong; the practical question is how wrong do

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 3 Perspectives Rule Any Thing or Idea Can Be the Point or the View of a Perspective In systems thinking, perspectives are as

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 3 Relationship Rule Any Idea or Thing Can Relate to Other Things or Ideas Relationships (e.g., connections, links, feedback, causality, likes, and

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 3 Systems Rule Any Idea or Thing Can Be Split into Parts or Lumped into a Whole There’s an old saying that

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 3 A deeper understanding and greater application of systems thinking requires that we identify the patterns that connect all of the

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 8  This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs." Be sure to checkout the tag to read them as a group and learn how cognitive jigs are at play in our everyday lives.

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 8  This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs." Be sure to checkout the tag to read them as a group and learn how cognitive jigs are at play in our everyday lives.

This article is a part of our ongoing "System Models" series that looks at various systems models through the universal lens of DSRP in order to identify their

 Our post today is about complex adaptive systems (CAS), in memory of English mathematician and systems thinker John Conway who died on April 11, 2020 due to COVID-19. Conway developed

This article is a part of our ongoing "System Models" series that looks at various systems models through the universal lens of DSRP in order to identify their

I want to introduce you to some ideas that may seem philosophical and abstract, perhaps academic.  I hope that, in the end, these ideas will lead you to insights that

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 6 USING IDEA ANALYTICS TO PREDICT NEW IDEAS The predictive capabilities of DSRP are as simple as the theory itself. You can

One of the things I learned in my Systems Thinking courses at Cornell University is that systems thinking can be used not only to solve wicked problems, but also to

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 6 PREDICTIVE POWER OF SIMPLE RULES The ultimate goal of all science is to understand the intricacies of the universe well enough

 This blog is part of a set listed under the tag "cognitive jigs." Be sure to check out the tag to read them as a group and learn

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 8 System dynamics is a method that is popular, and for some types of systems—especially population models—system dynamics is

We're committed to increasing public understanding of science about systems thinking. We strive to make the basic science of systems thinking accessible without loss of fidelity. One of the many

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 5 This blog is part of a set of blogs under thetag "cognitive jigs."Be sure to check out the tag to read them as a group and learn how cognitive jigs are at play in our everyday lives.

The term cognitive slider was coined by Derek Cabrera to communicate “a relatively small, nourishing or ‘meaty’ mental model” for use in increasing one’s prosocial or emotional intelligence. This

I've taught SystemsThinking/DSRP[1] for a long time... I've taught it to scientists, doctoral students, and graduate students. I've taught it to high schoolers, teachers of all stripes, grade

 Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 5 This blog is part of a set of blogs under thetag "cognitive jigs."Be sure to check

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 5 This blog is part of a set of blogs under the"cognitive jigs."Be sure to check

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 5 This blog is part of a set of blogs under the"cognitive jigs."Be sure to check

Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 5 This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs." Be sure to check

As we enter week three of social isolation [1] , I am reminded, and frankly a little surprised, at just how important the ideas we teach are. You see, as a

Parties are a place where people get together and make connections. In other words, it’s a situation where people relate to each other. What would happen if you went

What Are Jigs? Jigs are re-useable structures of knowledge and thinking that increase cognitive efficiency. Think of a jig as a common conceptual template that can be used over and

Jigs and sliders are often simple, but incredibly useful. Our graduate students sometimes have difficulty differentiating them. Here's a definitional guide to help. Then look at the jigs and sliders

What would it mean if we could not make distinctions? What would the world look like to us? If you attempt to imagine a world like that, you would quickly

It is commonplace to hear the phrase, “I feel” used incorrectly. For example, the statement, “I feel like I deserve to win the trophy,” is an incorrect one. Deserving of

1. The Crisis of Coronavirus What's the crisis? As President John F. Kennedy explained: In the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters, one representing

A fable tells the story of when the inventor of chess showed his new game to the Emperor of India. The Emperor is so impressed he exclaims, “name your reward!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 17, 2020 ITHACA, NEW YORK - Photosynthesis Productions offered a FREE rental of their educational documentary RE:Thinking (trailer) for the next month in observance of

I write about the identity-other structure of distinctions quite a bit. Mostly because people underestimate (1) the complexity that underlies this seemingly simple concept; (2) how pervasive this structure is

Coronavirus and Covid-19 is an emerging phenomena and we are distinguishing exactly what it is and its effects on an evolving basis. Cutting through the noise and finding some signal

What if I told you that you could become an advanced systems thinker, with skills that surpass the majority of folks, by (1) learning and practicing just 4 building blocks

I'm going to soapbox for a moment. I get a little uncomfortable when people make sweeping generalizations, especially when they are born of a binary way of thinking. When Simon

One of the things I find in our efforts to promote public understanding of science and systems thinking is that people have a hard time realizing the ubiquity, pervasiveness

I recently received an email from the "Head of Happiness" at ghost.org and it actually made me smile. Of course, it also helped that the words she used to

When we take a different perspective (P), the distinctions (D), part-whole systems (S), and relationships (R) we see are different, too. Systems are made up of many identities and each

#SystemsThinking in turn causes us to think differently about #systemsleadership or how to apply a systems approach to a complex adaptive organization (CAO). This short video and demo from our

In the past we believed #systemsthinking (ST) was a stepwise process. Today, it is now clear that it is an emergent property of very simple rules that can be combined

One of the questions we get a lot is: How do I get better at #systemsthinking / #dsrp? The simple answer is: practice. But practice what? Well, here are 3 tips:

We make #distinctions constantly. We really cannot NOT make a distinction. Despite their constancy, like breathing, it becomes something we take for granted. Few of us, when starting the car

New @LI_learning  course = new skills to build. Boost your analytical skills and find your own approach to complex situations with @_derek_cabrera @cabreraresearch. http://lnkd.in/e7KZMJD #systemsthinking

I’ve studied Systems Thinking for thirty years in one way or another. Formally for 20 of those years. When I first came to the formal field of systems thinking

March 1, 2020 The Cabreras travel to Colombia included multiple talks at three of Colombia's best Universities: Universidad de los Andes, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. The

For Immediate Release: August 7, 2018 Universal visual mapping software company to develop “thoughtware” class software NEW YORK, New York — The National Science Foundation Phase I Small Business Innovation Research

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 16, 2018 Originally published here. SUNY CORTLAND, NEW YORK - The Blackbird Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, April 19 at SUNY Cortland with a locally-produced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 9, 2017 Information is not Knowledge JACKSONVILLE, FL - Dr. Derek Cabrera delivered the keynote address at the annual convention of the Association for Educational

by Movies News Desk Oct. 16, 2017 "When humans of any age think about what they're doing, they're engaged. When they think about what they're doing, they're self-reflective. When they

As part of an ongoing series, Field Notes interviewed educational theorist and systems scientist, Dr. Derek Cabrera on the topic of developing a moral compass in young people. Field Notes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ThinkWater Fellows Announced for 2017-18 USDA-Funded Fellowship Enables Regional/State Water Experts to Incorporate Systems Thinking in Education, Outreach, and Extension. Ithaca, N.Y. April 4, 2017

ThinkWater advisor Doug Parker recently co-authored a blog on what it would take to end the California drought. The article provides a great opportunity to deconstruct the thinking behind the

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 1, 2017 Originally published here. ITHACA, NEW YORK - Deborah C. Hoard, President of PhotoSynthesis Productions, talks about the new documentary film, RE:Thinking.  She describes

Many now conclude that knowledge alone doesn't influence behavior. While that may be true, there's some subtlety that needs to be unpacked, lest we underestimate the importance of knowledge for

I've worked as an educator in both formal and nonformal settings for nearly 20 years. Throughout those years, I asked my students (adults and youth) to think critically about the

After decades of researching DSRP and over a decade of teaching it to all ages, I've come to a conclusion. The hardest thing to understand about DSRP isn't DSRP. That

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ####Cabreras Present on Systems Thinking, New Book at State Department Systems Thinking Applied to Complex Problems of National Interest Ithaca, N.Y. May 2, 2016 On April

A few updates on the Wisconsin Water Thinkers Network (WWTN): We have formed the leadership team to guide and promote the work of the WWTN moving forward. The team members

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** 2016 USDA ThinkWater Fellows Announced New USDA-Funded Fellowship Applies Systems Thinking to Critical Water-Related Issues Ithaca, N.Y. April 4, 2016 Eleven researchers from Cornell University have

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ThinkWater Initiatives Featured in White House Press Release Commitments to State-Based National Water Network and Online Systems Thinking Course Highlighted. Washington, D.C. March 22, 2016 Two

These four beautiful DSRP posters, or all 4 together, can be found here. Enjoy! "We wanted to get people asking different kinds of questions. Questions that lead to new

Design Thinking is the latest exotic heuristic to show up in fishmongers' stalls. The old saying, "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a

"The #1 place that folks mess up with systems thinking is distinction making. The repercussions can be quite serious." Our research lab has three focus areas: basic research

Check out the podcast 013: Systems Thinking with Derek Cabrera of CRLab by John Ackley | Feb 10, 2016 | Podcast http://johnackley.com/13-2/

How does one find the patterns that connect such a vast world of systems models, approaches, frameworks, and theories? aka, a general theory of systems thinking? Here's my advice after

There's a common perception that thinking and doing are really different things. In the world of systems thinking this translates into debates about systems thinking versus systems action. I have

Relationships are action-reaction. Interaction. Causes and effects. Feedback. Any two things or ideas can be related and any thing or idea could be a relationship itself. The mind is fluid

How we organize the parts of a system into a whole matters. Every whole has parts. Every part is a whole which has parts. And, every whole is a part

Change our perspective and the distinctions we make change, too. And of course, the part-whole organization and the relationships we see can change as well. Every perspective has a point

Distinctions are not things but negotiated boundaries between ideas/things; a boundary between the identity and other that occurs fractally (across scale in the same pattern). The key skill in