1. Leading Change in a Time of Disconnect, Cognitive
Dissonance, and Insecurity
Presentation to BSI/Spider User Conference
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Jim Robinson, Director
George Washington University
Center for Excellence in Public Leadership
http://cepl.cps.gwu.edu

2. Systemic Disconnects That Give Rise to
Societal Symptoms: Systems that Are
–Designed not to learn
–Exhibit Broken or Delayed Feedback Loops
Where: Positive Externalities Flow to the Top,
Negative Externalities to the Poor or Workers
Ego-System Focus vs. Eco-System Reality
(Me and Us vs. Undeserving Them… Takers…
Slackers… Dangerous… Great Unwashed)

3. Structural Disconnects and System
Limits
Scharmer, C. Otto. Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies. San Francisco:
Berrett-Koehler, 2013. Print.

4. Mythical Beliefs Underlying the
American Dream to American
Nightmare
• America is the land of …
▫ Equal opportunity for all – the same set of rules and
possibilities apply for every individual American –
• Opportunity for those who work hard and don’t
quit …
▫ Working hard always creates success if you don’t quit
• The Shining City on A Hill – Exceptional
• Strive to Get Ahead –Consume-Be Happy-You’ve
Arrived

5. American Dream vs. Awakening
Nightmare
• 5% of world population + 80% of painkillers
• 66% of American men have jobs
• Half of all U.S. college graduates under age 25…
unemployed or underemployed
• 1 of 7 Americans on food stamps and 1 of 4 children
• 13% of all U.S. homes sit empty
• 1 of 4 American workers has a job that pays
$10/hour or less - highest among industrial nations
• Wealthiest 1% own more wealth than bottom 95%
• 400% increase in anti-depressant usage since 1988

6. Health and Income Inequality
Scharmer, C. Otto. Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies. San Francisco:
Berrett-Koehler, 2013. Print.

7. What Is A System
• A system is a set of interconnected elements
which form a whole and show properties which
are properties of the whole rather than of the
individual elements
▫ Less a thing, than a pattern of organization
▫ Dynamic flows of interactions

8. Examining how
WE CREATE OUR OWN PROBLEMS
Seeing the
BIG PICTURE
Recognizing that
STRUCTURE INFLUENCES PERFORMANCE
WHAT IS SYSTEMS THINKING?

9. System Archetypes
• Common and usually reoccurring patterns of
behaviors in organizations… often resulting in
negative consequences.
• 4 of 8 System Archetypes
▫ Fixes that Fail
▫ Limits to Success
▫ Success to the Successful
▫ Tragedy of the Commons

10. FIXES THAT FAIL / BACKFIRE
Unintended
Consequences
FixProblem
Symptom
Delay
S
S
S
O
Time
Behavior Over Time

11. Positive
Reinforcement
Structure
Perf.
Level
Time
Behavior Over Time
Hours
Worked
Energy
Level
Diminishing
Returns
“Burnout”
Employee
Performance
Supervisor’s
Supportive
Behavior
S
S
S
O
S
Limits to Success

12. Success to the Successful
Allocation to A
Instead of B
Success of A
Resources
to A
Resources
to B
Success of B
Time
A
Time
BS
S
S
S
S
S

13. Success to the Successful
• Look for reasons why the system was set up to
create just one “winner”
• Find ways to make teams collaborators rather
than competitors

14. Tragedy of the Commons

15. Tragedy of the Commons
Total Activity
Gain per
Individual
Activity
Resource
Limit
O
S
S
S
Time
A
Time
B
A’s Activity
S
S
Net Gains
for A
B’s Activity
Net Gains
for B
S
S
S
S

16. Tragedy of the Commons
• Solutions for a “Tragedy of the Commons” never
lie at the individual level (The Libertarian
Nightmare)
• What are the incentives for individuals to persist
in their actions?
• Can the long-term collective loss be made more
real?
• Find ways to reconcile short-term individual
rewards with long-term cumulative
consequences

17. Shifting Our Inner Space & Leading
From the Emerging Future
• The success of an intervention depends on the
interior condition of the intervener… not What
we do or How we do it… the inner place
(consciousness) from which we operate (Bill
O’Brien, former CEO of Hanover Insurance)
• Going to the Edges and being Open to Becoming
Aware of What Is Wanting to Emerge
• Get the whole system in the room

18. Making a shift
• Energy follows attention:
▫ What we are trying to avoid What we want to
bring into reality
• Observe, Observe, Observe – Immersion
• Get voices of the whole system and ecosystem
• Act in an instant by Prototyping, Continuous
Feedback, and Rapid Learning

19. What Research is Showing About Motivation

20. References
• Cannon, Master Charles. Awakening from the
American Dream: From Crisis to
Consciousness. Washington: Waterside,
2014. Print
• Little, Todd.“Systems Causal Loops.”
1998.Microsoft PowerPoint file.
• Scharmer, C. Otto. Leading from the Emerging
Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System
Economies. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler,
2013. Print.