Beating the System
By Russell L. Ackoff and Sheldon Rovin
By Russell L. Ackoff and Sheldon Rovin
Category: Business
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$14.95
Jun 12, 2005 | ISBN 9781576753309
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Praise
“I loved the book and read every blessed word of it, savored it, and recommended it to virtually every sentient person I know who works in an organized setting.”
—Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Management at USC and author of On Becoming a Leader and Geeks and Geezers
"No one has contributed more to systems thinking in management than Russell Ackoff and Sheldon Rovin. Who better to offer a lifetime of insight into how systems work and how to keep them from preventing creative work?"
—Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline and Founding Chair, Society for Organizational Learning
”Two of the most thoughtful people on Systems Thinking have taken the courageous step of pointing out what you can do when the entity or activity in which you are seeking a product or service is not operating at the level of systemic interaction the authors have spent much of their lives attempting to create.”
—Vincent P. Barabba, former General Manager, Corporate Strategy and Knowledge Development, General Motors
Table Of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part I. What You Need to Know to Beat Systems
1 Why Systems Need to Be Beaten
Necessity mothers inversion
2 Understanding Systems
Knowledge without understanding is a misguided missile
3 The Nature of Creativity
Those in boxes can't think out of them
Part II. System Beaters: Their Stories
4 Denying Assumptions
Say it isn't so
5 Turnabout Is Fair Play
Do unto the system as it would do unto you
6 Divide and Conquer
When the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing
7 Threaten the System
Squeeze, but sometimes please
8 Sidestep Constraints
Dazzle them with your footwork
9 When All Else Fails, Revolt
You have nothing lose but your frustration
Part III. System Beating in a Nutshell and
Systems Unbeatable
10 Rules of Thumb for System Beaters
The gist of it
11 Making Systems Unbeatable
An ounce of prevention
Stories by System Category
Sources
Index
Acknowledgments
An Invitation to System Beaters
About the Authors
21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
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