Derek & Laura Cabrera

    Derek & Laura Cabrera

    Derek Cabrera (Ph.D., Cornell) is an internationally known systems scientist and serves on the faculty of Cornell University where he teaches systems thinking, systems leadership, and systems mapping and is Program Director for the Graduate Certification Program in Systems Thinking, Modeling, and Leadership (STML). He is a senior scientist at Cabrera Research Lab. Laura Cabrera (B.S., M.P.A, & PhD, Cornell) currently teaches Systems Thinking and Modeling and Systems Leadership at Cornell University at the Institute for Policy Affairs. She is also a senior researcher at the Cabrera Research Lab. Over the past decade, Cabrera has applied her expertise in research methods and translational research to increase public understanding, practical application, and dissemination of sophisticated systems science and systems thinking models.

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    VMCL

    The Power of Wow

    Excerpt from the book, Flock Not Clock. The Power of Sharing Mental Models: Wow Stories "I am empowered to create unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests." This simple employee statement (number 3 on the Ritz-Carlton’s list of 12 service values)[14] exemplifies a culture in which employees are empowered to learn. Ritz-Carlton, one of the world’s most recognized luxury hotel chains, with 90 hotels and resorts around the world, uses organizational learning to drive its award-winning customer service. They do so by building capacity through institutionalized processes they call Daily Line-Ups and Wow Stories that use the power of storytelling as a way to spread learning across the organization.

    • Derek & Laura Cabrera
      Derek & Laura Cabrera
    Culture

    Core Tenets of Organizational Culture

    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.

    • Derek & Laura Cabrera
      Derek & Laura Cabrera
    Learning

    Learn by Example

    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).

    • Derek & Laura Cabrera
      Derek & Laura Cabrera
    Logic

    Embrace And/Both Logic

    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.

    • Derek & Laura Cabrera
      Derek & Laura Cabrera
    Network

    All Organizations Are Complex Adaptive Systems

    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 property of the many agents and their interactions with one another and their environment—is not easily predicted by the behavior of the organizational members alone. As a leader, your challenge is to embrace this reality and leverage it to your advantage.

    • Derek & Laura Cabrera
      Derek & Laura Cabrera