Welcome to the corporate world — a place filled with inspiring vision statements, framed values, and ambitious goals. Leaders set these goals based on what they believe is the collective potential of their people. And yes, people work incredibly hard — sometimes unbelievably hard. Yet ask almost anyone, from the C-suite to the front line, whether their organization is falling hugely short of its full collective potential, and you’ll hear a resounding “Yes.” Ask if they and their colleagues suffer in pursuit of those goals, and again, the answer will be “Yes.”
Why do people in corporations struggle — and even suffer — while chasing goals they believe are achievable with the resources at hand?
At SystemsWay, we see two main reasons.
Reason #1 — The “People Are the Problem” Trap
Most people view a corporation simply as a collection of individuals, not as a system in which those individuals are embedded. When you hold that belief, the only levers you see are:
- Hold people accountable
- Offer incentives
- Hire and fire
- And when that fails, launch “culture change” programs — essentially attempts to fix people’s behavior
These approaches rarely succeed. Consulting firms report failure rates exceeding 90%. The “people are the problem” thesis collapses under a simple test: ask any leader or employee if they know someone who deliberately comes to work to create obstacles, avoid collaboration, or sabotage efforts. The answer is almost always “No.”
So why do organizations keep acting as if people are the problem?Because when we can feel dysfunction but can’t see the systems creating it, we have no choice but to act on the only thing we can see: people.
Seeing the SPACE
The escape from this paradox begins by understanding SPACE:
Systems of Participating Agents Creating Environments
In other words, the system itself — the SPACE — is distinct from the individuals within it. It is the SPACE that enables or disables people’s ability to contribute to the organization’s collective potential.
Analogy:
See Manish driving in India, and you might think he’s a terrible driver. Fly him to the U.S., and suddenly he’s one of the best. Back in India, within days, he reverts to his old habits. What’s changing? Not Manish’s intent or capability, but the transportation SPACE he’s operating in. Fixing “Manish” makes sense only if he fails in both environments. When he thrives in one and struggles in another, leaders should fix the SPACE, not the person.
This simple idea — that leaders must lead and manage systems first and people second — is easy to grasp, yet rarely practiced. Systems, though invisible, shape human behavior far more than humans shape systems. System leadership is real leadership, and it’s hard because systems are hard.
Reason #2 — Outdated Thinking for Modern Systems
When we meet leaders, many say, “We understand systems and we’re constantly improving them.” Yet dysfunction, struggle, and suffering persist. What’s going wrong?
The issue is not a lack of effort. It’s that the thinking lens leaders use to view and act on systems is no longer compatible with the systems they are leading.Humans don’t literally “see” systems — we interpret them through our thinking. And for most people, that thinking is analytical thinking, which works well for stable, predictable systems.
But over the past two decades, systems have evolved into dynamic, interconnected, and rapidly changing entities. Analytical thinking — by default — is now out of sync with reality.
When thinking is incompatible with the system, something dangerous happens: learning from experience becomes impossible. Worse, it creates the illusion of learning when no real learning is happening.
At SystemsWay, we call this the “delusion of learning from experience.” Systems scientists often describe it by saying “systems have become counterintuitive,” but we reject that framing because it casts humans as helpless victims. We believe the truth is this:
Our thinking has become counterproductive to the work of systems.
The Invitation
The realization that our thinking has fallen out of sync with modern systems invites leaders, managers, and professionals at every level to:
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Think about thinking
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Reflect on the strengths and limits of analytical thinking
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Explore an alternative paradigm — Systems Thinking — better suited to leading and managing evolved, complex systems
This is the foundation of the SystemsWay School of Management and Leadership.
Whether you learn Systems Thinking with us or elsewhere, the investment of time and energy is essential. Because in the 21st century, leadership will be defined by those who move systems forward. And in this paradigm, every manager — and every person — can be a leader, because we all participate in systems.
If this pitch doesn’t spark your curiosity, we have more. And if you’d like to see what makes the SystemsWay School different from other programs that teach Systems Thinking, read this article.
