ISSS President 2017: Professor Ockie Bosch
SYSTEMS THINKING FOR EVERYONE
Incoming Presidential Address by Prof. Ockie Bosch
Systems Thinking For Everyone
(Conference Banquet in Boulder, July 2016)
I am convinced that no-one will wonder why the theme of the International ISSS 2017 conference is:
From Science to Systemic Solutions:
Systems Thinking for Everyone.
Government and business institutions are under enormous pressure to make the right investment decisions in the face of a continually changing geo-political and socio-economic landscape. Policy makers, managers and leaders today are expected to deliver innovative solutions to cope with increasing change and uncertainty. To make matters more challenging the complex environmental, socio-economic, business-financial issues also tend to transcend the jurisdictions and capacities of any single organisation or government department. These all point to an urgent need for a societal change in the way we approach complex issues.
Until now our inability to effectively deal with ever increasing globally complex environments sees our world abound with failed projects and programs. The waste and opportunity cost is staggering at the local, regional, national and global level. As systems scientists we are struck how wedded the international community is to linear approaches when dealing with complex issues.
Fortunately the world has moved on and today there is growing acceptance that current tools and the way of thinking are not sufficient anymore for dealing with complex issues - those that exhibit non-linearity, uncertainty, ambiguity, emergence, involve multiple stakeholders and are subjected to political influence - all require a different approach.
Having engaged extensively throughout the international community over the past 3 decades, I am confident that systems thinking stands as the single most important contribution that needs to be embraced to help create a better world. There is a whole world out there that needs to know more about the enormous potential that systems thinking can offer as a holistic and integrative way of appreciating all the major dimensions of a complex problem, and enables the formation of effective management strategies (systemic interventions) with long lasting outcomes.
Holding a systems conference with the theme “Systems Thinking for Everyone“ is an important step towards informing the world out there to realise this potential that the systems sciences have. We also started to realise that only knowing definitions or other systems characteristics (thinking here of the many short courses that are presented by various companies and individuals) are not sufficient for enabling members of the public to actively apply their knowledge about systems in the way that the term ‘systems thinker’ implies. What has become important is for systems thinking and its associated concepts and especially its tools to spread beyond scholarly circles and be practiced by everyone to make that difference that is required.
Systems thinking does not yet play an important role in making good policy and investment decisions or solving complex problems. Cross-sectoral communication and collaboration to deal with the multi-dimensional nature of complex problems is not yet visible in our societies and they remain going for ‘quick fixes’, because it is easier to treat the symptoms. These issues clearly demand an urgent need for new and innovative ways of thinking and a fresh approach and tools to deal with the problems facing our society. Our research over the last 20 years has focused mainly on how to bring theory and practice together to make an impact.
Why is this important for everyone?
When it comes to dealing with issues, any organisation, business or community have people that are involved. These people may be affected by decisions being made or can influence the formulation and implementation of the decisions. They may support or oppose the decisions, be influential in the organization or within a community in which they operate, and ensure that decisions are implemented. No project or issue can be solved without the knowledge, perceptions and opinions of the stakeholders, who all come from different angles – either their position in the hierarchy, differing values and norms, or political and cultural backgrounds. This means that everyone has a ‘stake’ in dealing with an issue – making every one a ‘stakeholder’.
The World Conference aims to design a forum to bridge the gap between science and practice. We are inviting industry representatives in Austria, Europe as a whole and from all over the world, as well as representatives from politics and society to join and dive into this science-based dialogue. We have already started to establish a large network of national and international industry, governmental and academic partner organizations. I could also report there is already a strong interest by the automotive industry and companies in energy, medicine, infrastructure, industrial good, and IT.
Technological, biological and social systems and their design will be at the centre of the conference. People from industry and governments are being invited as keynote speakers to talk about how they are dealing with complex issues in their companies, businesses and governments. The design format of the conference will be rather different from the past to allow for maximum face-to-face interactions between systems scientists and industry, as well as maximising the opportunities for systems scientists to share their latest work with each other. Adding to the systems scientists’ experience will also be special tracks for systems practice on challenges being brought to the forum by the industry – real action work sessions.
The conference will be embedded in the unique cultural environment of Vienna as the city of music, science, contemporary life style, history and art, and of course some of the world leading cuisine and wineries.
Conference Organisation
The ISSS will hold its 61st World Conference from 9 - 14 July 2017 in Vienna, Austria in cooperation with the Vienna based Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science. The organisation of such an ambitious conference requires hard work from many people. At this stage I will not mention all those already involved, but mention just the main players with who you can communicate:
Your next President: Homepage: http://systemic-change-institute.de/prof-dr-ockie-bosch/). I am a Honorary Professor at The University of Adelaide in Australia, Distinghuished (not Extinghuished) Guest Professor at Keio University in Japan, Director of my own Company SysPrac Pty Ltd in Adelaide, Partner of the SEG in Berlin and specifically engage in its Systemic Change Management Institute’s unique education program on systemically based change management....and more. Yes I have actually retired in May 2015, but it has desperately failed. I therefore have decided to try to retire again at the age of 104, which gives me another almost 40 year career.
Different to when I started my first career from scratch, I am this time in the fortunate position of "have been there, have done it“ and not having to build myself up into management positions in the academic world. I am in the position to devote all my time towards taking systems out there in the world to make a difference to the lives of people, the operations of businesses and organisations as well as enjoy a wonderful family life with my wife Annerine and our six and a half beautiful grandchildren.
I sincerely hope to be the President that you expect from me and to see each and every one of you in Vienna next year.
The Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science: Central to the organizing committee is our friend Stefan Blachfellner, the VP Conferences. Stefan is the Managing Director of BCSSS and I cannot be more thankful for the privilege to work with him in creating an unforgettable conference experience that will go far beyond scholarly circles and would serve as a “big splash” that will ripple out to the benefit of the world as a whole. On his side is Gerti Neubauer, who is actively involved in finding that important resource for a great conference, namely “Finances”. Gerti’s responsibility to find sponsorships and create other innovative ideas to make this conference a lifetime experience for everyone, is indeed no small task.
The Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science is an Austrian independent research institute, internationally recognized as an ambassador for the legacy of Systems Science and current applied system research. It focuses on the Foundations of Systems Science, exploring and explaining the nature of the world, and Systems Design, understanding and deploying change in our world – undoubtedly a wonderful and valuable partner in organizing this ambitious conference.
Dr. Jennifer Wilby is the Vice-President Administration and all questions and requests that are too difficult for anyone in the Society to solve, should be directed directly to our own Knowledge Bank. With Jennifer, we each received another right hand, namely Delia Pembrey MacNamara, who is using her special skills for effective communication through the digital wonder-world she is creating.
SEE YOU ALL IN JULY 2017 IN VIENNA !