My passion lies on exploring learning processes and creating spaces for shared learning and that’s what I usually write about in Portuguese — I am very interested in collective systems design as I see it as a teleological space for individual and collective learning. So here I am exploring more about systems and how they can become/be sustainable and innovative. I call this, always temporarily, Sustainable System Innovations.

What about Sustainable System Innovations?

Sustainable System Innovations (SSI) is a practice of understanding innovation and change in a systemic way, creating spaces and processes to capture its emergence and provide a framework and conditions to guide chosen actions towards sustainable results.

This practice goes hand to hand with the new style of leadership emerging, one who can identify and deal with both complex and simple systems, applying different approaches for different cases. This leadership deals with outer and inner resources and search for self-development as a path to become a better intervenor.

Why SSI?

Innovations like nuclear fission can be used for many purposes and trigger many different actions. They are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ by definition, but their use can be judged adequate or not based on framework we use and what we define as success within this framework.

Beyond innovation, SSI is allowing innovation to emerge – creating spaces and opportunities to that – and also to understand the system in which this innovation will be placed, so the actions are aligned to our individual or collective sense of success and vision. This understanding becomes pragmatic when we create a framework and conditions where the innovation works for a sustainable future.

Is everything now a complex system?

Not really. In our times we constantly deal with a mixture of simple and complex problems that usually receive the same treatment. Often we see complex systems being explored with a simplistic solution, other times we see a simple problem receiving a complex approach where it is not needed.

It’s is important to explore the interconnectedness of what we are studying to decide whether to apply a simple or a complex approach. Check this website on “Kinds of Problems”.

Exploring SSI…

Is what it’s happening right now. Please join.

Indeed, what I have written here makes no claim to novelty in detail, and the reason why I give no sources is that it is a matter of indifference to me whether the thoughts that I have had have been anticipated by someone else.
L.W.