Donella Meadows

Principles are our summary of their public statements.

• Identify High Leverage Points

  Strategy

  Focus on finding the most effective places to intervene in a system to create the greatest impact with the least effort.

  Source Wikipedia: Donella Meadows  (opens in a new tab)

• Prioritize Behavior Over Rhetoric

  Leadership

  The true purpose of any organization or system is revealed by its actual output and resource allocation, not by its mission statement.

  Supporting quotes

  • “Models can easily become so complex that they are impenetrable, unexaminable, and virtually unalterable.”

    “The future can't be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being. Systems can't be controlled, but they can be designed and redesigned.”

  1 more supporting quote is in the member records.

• Embrace Small Steps and Monitoring

  Resilience

  In complex environments where control is impossible, success comes from taking small actions, monitoring results, and being willing to pivot.

  Supporting quotes

  • “Models can easily become so complex that they are impenetrable, unexaminable, and virtually unalterable.”

    “The future can't be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being. Systems can't be controlled, but they can be designed and redesigned.”

  1 more supporting quote is in the member records.

• Target the Paradigm

  Leadership

  The most effective way to transform a system is to intervene at the level of its deepest beliefs and unstated assumptions.

  Supporting quotes

  • “There always will be limits to growth. They can be self-imposed. If they aren't, they will be system-imposed. No physical entity can grow forever.”

    “Changing the length of a delay may utterly change behavior. [...] Overshoots, oscillations, and collapses are always caused by delays.”

  1 more supporting quote is in the member records.