Structures of which we are unaware hold us prisoner

Freedom is contingent on understanding the system that holds us captive. Only by understanding the elements, dependencies, forces, delays, feedbacks—the system itself—can we begin to understand how to function within it in such a way as to not be beholden to it.

Conversely, learning to see the structures within which we operate begins a process of freeing ourselves from previously unseen forces and ultimately mastering the ability to work with them and change them.[1]


#systems-thinking

See also:


  1. The Fifth Discipline – Senge (2010), ch. 6. ↩︎