You cannot feel empathy without taking perspective. Empathy is "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another [1]." It was once thought to be unique to humans, but empathy is found in a variety of organisms.

Some of the text in this blog is adapted from A Literature Review of the Universal and Atomic Elements of Complex Cognition (2020).

Some of the text in this blog is adapted from A Literature Review of the Universal and Atomic Elements of Complex Cognition (2020). 

This blog was written by Paul Corsi as a project for PADM 5449 at Cornell University. 

This blog was written by Patrick Kastner as a project for PADM 5449 at Cornell University. 

This blog was written by Ashley Hock as a project for PADM 5449 at Cornell University. 

This blog was written by Austin Reid as a project for PADM 5449 at Cornell University.  The following three-part poster series is designed to serve as a teaching aid in preschool settings to assist children in understanding feelings and how to process them. This poster series can also be used as a teaching aid for children between the ages of three and five in other settings including daycare, summer camp or Sunday school. The first poster provides children with an opportunity to think about how they are feeling and explain why. Children will point to the face that most accurately mirrors how they are feeling and they can also learn from others how they are feeling. This check-in can also be done as a one-on-one exercise between a guardian and a child.  

Systems Exist

This isn't a blog post, but more of a blog-collection. 6 common things that systems thinkers like to say that are bupkis. We call them sacred cows of systems thinking because it is almost blasphemous to disagree with them, even though most have a much bigger bark than bite. Click on the links below (in the right column) to red the blogs on each sacred cow.

Adapted from A Literature Review of the Universal and Atomic Elements of Complex Cognition. Some earlier research into perspective taking focused on the development of a "theory of mind," which is the ability to attribute beliefs, thoughts or feelings to another person (i.e., take another’s perspective).

When I was a child, my mother would tell me a story of her own childhood. She spoke of how the children would collect tin foil wrappers from gum and cigarette packs and make a foil ball that could be turned in to help the war effort. This was all part of a scrap drive that children and citizens participated in willingly that included gathering grease fat containing glycerine that was used for bombs and metals of all kinds used in bombers (made by an increasingly female workforce that “manned” the factories where B-52 bombers were being made). Everyone pitched in because “our boys” were “over there” fighting.

Tips for getting started doing systems thinking; incorporating systems thinking into your life and work.  Our recommended path for new systems thinkers is as follows:

Learn more about the definition of a slider, or read our other sliders... If you’ve raised children, you will inevitably be accused of being mean. You’re mean because you won’t let them have a third dessert. Because you insist that they wear a jacket when it is -5°F. Or, when you enforce a reasonable bedtime. But lately we’ve been noticing that Gen Z children—and to a large extent, the Millennial generation—think of a whole range of new things as “mean.” If I were to say for example, “hey can you brush your teeth? Your breath is terrible,” that might be considered mean. Even if, factually, you have halitosis.

To read more about jigs, check out the help article on jigs and also check out the cognitive jigs tag...

Everything and every time we think, we are projecting our own view on reality. [1] Revolutionary Systems Thinker and professor at Cornell University Derek Cabrera remarked,

When you picture things that think, a slime mold probably wouldn't be the first organism to jump to mind. However, research has shown that you don't necessarily need a brain to think; in other words, non-neural organisms can think. Previously, we discussed how chemotaxis is an inherently DSRP-based process which allows bacteria and cells to make distinctions, build systems, recognize relationships, and take perspectives. As research has shown, slime molds can do DSRP too. 

Staff: Tell me about the jig you call, "S-to-P Jig?" What is it? And, why is it such an important jig?

Learn more about the definition of a slider, or read our other sliders...

  There are a lot of techniques for learning something new and the learning sciences give us insight into what works: scaffolding, repetition, practice, metacognition, experiential learning and reflection, social cognition, embodied cognition, MAC, etc.

  Like a pack of wolves, tiny bacteria band together to hunt their evasive prey. In the soil underfoot, a nematode (“round worm”) avoids a deadly chemical. A cell runs toward oxygen to take part in photosynthesis and make the planet habitable by humans[1]. Brightly colored water droplets animate and chase each other across a glass landscape[2]. These are a few of the amazing microscopic dramas that occur just out of range of sight. Microbes and even non-living molecules use DSRP to sense and respond to their environment in a process called chemotaxis.

This post was adapted from Thinking At Every Desk.  While knowledge and thinking skills have always been important, globalization makes them more critical than ever before.

All this talk of culture is of course useless if it’s not implemented. Noting how difficult culture is to define and pinpoint for executives, Chris Cancialosi, Partner and Founder of gothamCulture, nonetheless argues:

There are moments in life when we instinctively know that our life is changing and that a corollary transformation of ourselves is underway. I am sure that every parent remembers with great clarity the moment that the totality of becoming a parent hit them. Never is there such a crystallization of absolute joy and heart stopping fear. The enormity of the responsibility of parenthood weighs on us before a child arrives in our home. Yet, we embrace the joy, face that fear, and take the responsibility head on to do what our instincts tell us to do as biological beings raising our young.

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of Flock Not Clock.  By definition, all groups (including organizational members) are characterized by culture(s). 

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of Flock Not Clock. Members of your organization will share a large number of mental models, all of varying importance and centrality to the organization and its success. So what are the most important mental models—the pillars of your culture? Where do you focus first and foremost? Organizational success depends on sharing the right mental models, ones that are complexity-friendly and promote learning and adaptation.

One of the specific and practical things you can do to build a culture of mental models is to get the entire leadership team to assume another as leaders of learning. The CEO must also serve as a Chief Learning Officer (CLO). This dual role is required not just of CEOs but of any leader across the organization. If managers make learning a priority, others will see it as a priority, too. Effective leaders are skilled “lead learners” adroit at inculcating culture (facilitating shared understanding of key mental models).

"I am empowered to create unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests." 

This post is adapted from Chapter 5 of Flock Not Clock.

Mental models evolve because of the ST-DSRP Loop. That's systems thinking. That's human learning. That's science.

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of Flock Not Clock. 

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of Flock Not Clock. 

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Flock Not Clock. 

This post is part on an ongoing series. To see more, check out the Sliders tag.   Staff: You recently mentioned a slider called “What Got You Here Won't Get You There."  Can you give me a quick overview of what that's about?

This post was adapted from Chapter 4 of Flock Not Clock. What are core values, and why does every company feel compelled to create and publicize them? The growing emphasis on organizational culture has likely fueled this trend: many CEOs equate culture with values.

This post is adapted from Chapter 4 of Flock Not Clock. 

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Flock Not Clock. 

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Flock Not Clock. 

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Flock Not Clock. 

This post is adapted from Chapter 3 of Flock Not Clock

This blog is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of Flock Not Clock.

Staff: In our work the idea of mental models is prevalent. I know that you have this idea about how mental models cause your behavior. Can you give me sort of a quick overview on what that's about?

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Flock Not Clock. There’s a reason that there are articles in Inc. titled “The 9 Worst Mission Statements of All Time” and “Why Most Mission Statements Suck So Bad.” 

The Thinking Tree illustrates that the many types of thinking we distinguish are all borne of a simple set of cognitive rules. Mastering these simple rules will lead to mastery in the many types of thinking.

Over the years, different variables/symbols have been used for the same equation. In some cases for good reason, and in other cases solely because, like an English sentence, a mathematical sentence can be read and written in different ways toward the same effect. For example, take the following four equations:

This post is a part of the ongoing Slider series. Find more like this one here. 

If the right kind of Vision is so important, what explains companies that succeed with no [discernible] Vision? This is an important question we get asked a lot. Vision is a function of all organizations, whether formalized as companies, or informal groups of people such as protesters. Additionally,  "good"  Visions adhere to the vision-litmus-checks such that:

Dr. Cabrera wrote the Forward to the recently released book entitled, Swarm Learning in Health and Human Performance: Teaching Students How to Think Not What to Think. by Dr. Jamie Schwandt. The Forward in its entirety can be read below.

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Flock Not Clock. Many companies do in fact articulate a vision, though it often masquerades under different names like purpose or objective, and most frequently as mission.

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Flock Not Clock.

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Flock Not Clock.

Dogs are our best friends, but we can't talk to them... we have no common language. But, what if you could use the simple rules of DSRP to teach your dog to communicate with you? This blog and the remarkable videos included illustrates how this is possible when we use the underlying stuctures of systems thinking.

This article is a part of the sliders series. You can find more slider posts at the sliders tag. 

Staff: I'm curious to hear more about the slider,  "People As A Means Versus Ends." And when I look at how you've drawn it up (see the map here), it seems to me that this slider has to do with how a person interacts with other people. Can you explain a little bit more about what the basics of the slider?

Staff: DIY Self-Help is an idea that you have been talking about for a while. Can you tell me what DIY Self-Help is?

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. Lists are everywhere from the beginning of our life. Simply put, lists are part-whole arrangements of the Systems rule as used in the DSRP Theory.

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 blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "sliders." Be sure to check out the tag to read them as a group and learn how sliders are at play and can help us in our everyday lives. Over the years, I’ve worked with many students and folks who are new to the workforce. I must say, working with a team of young, passionate professionals who still believe they can change the world for the better (and likely will) is one of the best parts of my job. 

I discovered Systems Thinking and Systems Mapping less than three months ago. Well, more precisely, I discovered cabreraresearch.org. Diving deep into Derek and Laura’s insightful tools and generous resources, I realized I had known about Systems Mapping for years. I just didn’t know what it was called. Let me explain.

“Systems Thinking” sounds like something complicated, technical, and maybe even a little boring. But what if it’s actually a name for something you naturally do all day?

 Rar-one of the most important ideas in systems thinking

“Systems Thinking” sounds like such a grandiose thing, requiring complicated tools designed to solve complicated problems. But what if there is more (or less) to it? What follows is a short blow-by-blow account of how I solved a small problem using DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives).

July 20th, 2020 Dr. Laura Cabrera spoke today on the simple rules of systems leadership in partnership with Systemic Excellence Global. 

This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs."Be sure to check

Distinctions involve several different skills blended into one simple underlying structure where two elements (identity and other) make up any distinction. These skills include:

Prominent scholars in the field accept that the history and development of systems thinking has occurred in "waves" as originated by Flood, Jackson, and Keyes[1][2] and built on by Midgley, et. al.[3][4][5] This metaphor was extended in the late '90s early '00s with Cabrera[6] [7] and Midgley [8] and the suggestion of a 4th Wave. The “waves” have proven to be a useful and powerful conceptual, historical, and pedagogical model (as long as we are aware of periodization bias and what’s-nextism bias). For a more in-depth review of the "waves" see Cabrera[6].

  Dr. Cabrera's "Dinner Table Story" has become so requested that a reenactment was added to CRL's Blue Belt Systems Trainer Certification. 

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of Flock Not Clock. Given that so many companies lack a vision statement and those that exist exhibit a bizarre range of forms and purposes, you may wonder why you need one. 

Like all things, color is chock-full of DSRP patterns. Presented with the most common colors most of us can (unless colorblind) identify them on the spot. They are distinct from one another. 

  Distinctions are universal. They are commonly thought to be uniquely human and to exist only as concepts.

This post is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Flock Not Clock. 

Dr. Derek Cabrera wrote the spoken word "Count Me In" and the lyrics for the song by the same name (both produced by Photosynthesis Productions). CRL is committed to its Mission-Vision to "Engage, Educate, and Empower & Billion Systems Thinkers."

The "The Irony of Law" is that there is a great deal of Distinction between the "letter of the law" and the "practice of the law." 

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.

Citation: “Dr. Derek Cabrera on Life After COVID-19.” Talk by Derek Cabrera, Global Policy Insights, 29 May 2020, www.youtube.com/watchv=8xvahKPcuTI  The transcript for the talk is below. 

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