Closed versus open system in the current world
Eddie Dean, a restaurateur and philosopher in Dallas, occasionally sends me notes that make me think. This morning it was about open verses closed systems. He’s sent me similar notes before since this is a topic we’ve frequently discussed. And over the past few weeks I’ve spent considerable time with my friend, George Thompson, talking about the difference between a learning organization, which is an open system, and bureaucracies, which are closed systems. It's always interesting to me how different conversations with very different people will coalesce like that. Of course, my own work is about accountability, which has a considerable opinion on these topics as well and is the lens I choose. Accountability in a closed system is about the rules. Increasing accountability means finding new ways to hold those within the organization to account. We have two massive closed systems that society is asking some pretty serious questions about at this very moment: policing and attitu...