If Russ Ackoff had given a TED Talk...
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- This presentation is from a 1994 event hosted by Clare Crawford-Mason and Lloyd Dobyns to capture the Learning and Legacy of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Russ knew Dr. Deming and speaks here about the difference between "continuous improvement" and "discontinuous improvement" as seen through the lens of systems thinking.
Russ was going to give a TED talk in Monterey, CA in 2005 and had to cancel because he was recovering from eye surgery. If he had given one, this is probably what he would have said... because there's a powerful and unexpected lesson at the end. Enjoy!
I had the opprotunity to see Dr. Ackoff in 1982 and he left a mark an en influence on me forever. It is great to see him again and revive this.
Amazing that this speech is from 1994 and is still true, useful and applicable today. This should be mandatory material for everybody working in IT.
Thanks for commenting. And yes... this is timeless advice, because we still have not adopted Systems Thinking as the methodology used to solve problems... whether we are talking about corporate, industry-wide, or society-wide problems. I hope you will share this video to help people learn this way of thinking is needed!
@11:44 difference between efficiency and effectiveness is difference between knowledge and wisdom....well.said🙏
Thank you. Helpful. At 4 minutes in, "A system is NOT the sum of the behavior of its parts, it's a product of their interactions."
At 7 minutes in, I was surprised to hear him say, "The architect, whose profession I think who understands systems best, really has the fundamental idea."
You're welcome. Russ was originally an architect. Got his B.S. in Architecture in 1941. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_L._Ackoff
@@SteveBrant55 In short, Architectural Interactions? :)
One of the best talks about system thinking one could ever hear. What a wonderful thinker.
This was brilliant ! Never heard a much more precise yet complete talk on systems thinking before ! Oh and his sense of humor and examples ... just perfect ! Thank you again for sharing this !
Newb here. So glad I’m now apart of the cool crew
Welcome to the world of systems thinking, as taught by Russ Ackoff! Happy you found your way here!
@@SteveBrant55 thank you so much!
I just love reading and listening to Russell Ackoff - he really helps explain systems thinking for beginners
Such a thinker, he is the great example of learn to think and use your gifted tools to discover life.
How many ever times I watch this.. I would always get a new learning or a perspective
One of the best talks, I have listened to this day. We need wise people like him.
Russ's legacy will be celebrated in Philadelphia this July 26-28
sites.google.com/bzlot.com/ackoff/home
He was so clever that I'm going to have watch him a few more times! Thanks for posting.
Happy 97th birthday, Russ. I miss you a lot. Can only imagine what you'd have to say about the mess (which you pointed out many times is a technical term) the world is in today.
we are still alive and can become creative any time. Sadly, people are too occupied with safety and efficiency, not quality. Do you have any other systemic thinkers you can recommend as a video? They are rare and I am afraid they die all out. I like to hold them dear and to spread the word about them and their Weltanschauung.
Clear and brilliant, interesting, and many other attributes. Thank you, Dr.
I'm happy you enjoyed this so much. Please share it with others. The world still needs to learn to use this problem solving approach... to "do the right thing" rather than improve how we do the wrong things.
Great talk watching for the second time or so yet still want to watch again and again. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your comment. Yes... this is a talk you can listen to more than once. There is a lot to learn here!
The essence of Interdependence, effectiveness and wholism. A truly Beautiful mind. Thanks for the talk my Prof.
I'm happy you enjoyed this talk! Yes, Russ had a truly beautiful mind!
@StevenBrant. This short and profound sample of Russ Ackoff has been deeply meaningful and highly motivating to me for several years. It is a great example of his passion for helping us (me) to recognize the importance of examining, questioning, and periodically updating our mindset. Russ was clearly a one-of-a-kind person and an exceptional thinker.
Thank you for making it publicly available. I've returned to it dozens of times for renewed inspiration and to be reminded why I deliberately set about transforming my own thinking. I'm glad you got to know him, and have helped to bring his teachings and perspective to a wider audience!
Thank you for the compliment. I'm happy this video means so much to you. I'm doing my best to spread the word. Please share this with people you know as well. Here's to a future in which the global human social system is redesigned along the principles Russ knew could be its basis today: principles based on the knowledge that we *can* have a world in which everyone wins.
Thx for the reply. It's good to know you're out there! Keep up the good effort. Here's to understanding the trimtab and its effectiveness. (Props to Buckminster Fuller, and to Marshall Thurber.) Cheers!
We need to change algorithm to get this type of thinking to the top. Thanks for posting.
Agreed! Discontinuous change is the roadmap to a better future. Any suggestions on how to get more attention to this?
have worked through examples realtime online so that people can see possibility.
How do you determine what you WANT?You have to redesign the system NOT for the FUTURE but for RIGHT NOW.
Ask yourself, "What would you do RIGHT NOW if you do whatever you wanted to?"
because if you DON'T KNOW what you would do if you could do whatever you wanted to, HOW can you know what you can do under CONSTRAINTS?
I'm teary eyed. I want to hug this man.
Kenneth... Thank you for sharing your deep-felt response to this vid! I've watched it more than 50 times over the last several years, and I also well up with gratitude and inspiration each time.
If you're interested in choral singing and would like to take in something that's similarly inspirational to some, you might check out this moving 2-part vid:
Robert Shaw: Preparing a Masterpiece, Volume 1-Part 1: Brahms "A German Requiem"
ua-cam.com/video/42diMGHG_Z0/v-deo.html
Cheers, - Rick
You're hillarious personality
@@streetscienceofficial8675 thank you for this amazing reply to an 8-year-old comment that I made.
I've actually been working on something ever since this video. I didn't realize this was the turning point but it was
You are comment gpt me back to a video I long forgot about
Could you elaborate how this video helped you?@@KENNETHUDUT
That's one way to start a talk...
Knowledge + Ackoff = Wisdom
Kein Problem,
This is amazing. Thanks for keeping it here.
Everyone at the tech industry should watch this.
I'm happy you found and enjoyed Russ's talk today. His insights are truly timeless... especially since society seems to have fallen backward (sociologically) into "us against them" / "separate parts" thinking. We live in a global human social system... one which is capable of being designed in a way in which everyone would "win" (expanding the pie rather than living in a fixed pie reality... see also W. Edwards Deming's "The New Economics" book). I wish the tech industry understood this truth. Then it wouldn't be organized around a "Who has the most click?" contest.
great video. post more!
WISE , WISE , WISE ..Its is the WHOLE IDEA ! Doing the right things rather than continually improving on doing things right !
Excellent lecture on the paramont importance of The System. Thanks!
Super video, a wonderful explanation of systems thinking
A must watch
That was awesome! Thank you for sharing this!
Oh yes. It can take several viewings to see all the levels of what Russ Ackoff has to teach. I'm glad you realize that too. Also.. check out the other videos about his (and W. Edwards Deming's) work. Systems Thinking is a really revolutionary approach problem-solving!
Wish the six sigma community would watch this and so also design thinkers. This is so simple, straightforward and sensible that nothing else can compete. Thank you Russell Ackoff, for your wisdom.
Russ Ackoff, an original, discusses systems thinking, quality improvement, Deming, and more.
This guy is an underrated genius.
Thank you! I agree! And I made this point in my memorial essay to Russ published in The Huffington Post www.huffpost.com/entry/russell-ackoff---the-eins_b_341349
amazing! what a great mind and speaker
Indeed!
Wisdom for the ages.
it is mind blowing. he is far ahead of his time. just wonder why the thinking is not widely adopted in today's tqm or lean or six sigma
"he will never modify the house to improve the quality of the room, unless the quality of the house is also improved."
2024, and still wow, this man understands stuff
Wow! Simplemente el mejor speech que he escuchado en mucho tiempo
Thanks for this!
So good!
A Rocking TED talk!
This speech was made in 1994...20 years ago! During that time (till 2004) the US auto makers were focused on selling BIG vehicles. No attention to anything other than a quick buck. They would have folded had not Uncle Sam bailed them out. Electric cars will eventually become the standard, however, we should have been driving them since 1974 from the time of the first oil embargo. I would love to hear Dr. Ackoff's system analysis of the US government.
Such useful knowledge
More than ever before we must look at the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. Tinkering with improving the performance of a car headed towards a cliff is... well, a lot like the efficiency programs current today -- they fail to ask 'is what we are doing / improving the right thing'
Thank you for recognizing the importance of distinguishing between efficiency and effectiveness. What are the "right things" we should really be doing? Russ (along with his good friend W. Edwards Deming) knew that the existing system must be redesigned / transformed based on the current knowledge about what's scientifically possible not what we used to thing was possible.
Ackoff would get a seat round my 'ideal dinner party' any time! :D
What a funny man. I would love to open a presentation with that joke. Haha.
I'm happy you enjoyed Russ's joke. He sure knew how to wake up an audience before beginning a speech!
His introductory joke reminds me of an introduction that a late and older friend used to use (in the company of friends):
“I’m a statistic. Yes, I’m a statistic, broken down by age and sex!”
Thank you! :-)
Great video!
The centennial celebration of Russ Ackoff's legacy is 26-28 July 2019 in Philadelphia. Complete information is at this link: sites.google.com/bzlot.com/ackoff/itinerary
Mind = Blown, Heart = Throbbing
razveck I'm happy to hear this video had the desired effect: Opening your mind to the power of both Systems Thinking in general and discontinuous improvement as a specific, breakthrough way of thinking.
I invite you to watch the other videos of Russ Ackoff I have uploaded to UA-cam. Thanks again for your comment!
+Steven Brant Thank you so much for uploading.
Excellent
Who will replace him?
With such clarity ?
AHa...presentation ...now enriched in context of quality in an entanglement - the interconnection of a system,(complexity) ...
wow, this was excellent! i`m gonna go into a ackoff lectures youtube spree now, if anyone cares to follow.
any updates in 10 years?
System thinking's key
Whole is greater than its parts
Improve whole, not parts
here in 2024
Thank you for watching. Russ's insights are more critically important now (because the larger system of society is obviously collapsing) than ever. We cannot improve what we have. We must design and implement a new system based on new foundational principles based on "we can all make it" rather than "only some can make it" truths. (Russ knew Buckminster Fuller, who also taught that we should adopt "we can all make it" foundational truths.)
"If you don't remember that, you will regret it."
Dear Sir or Madam
I am an undergraduate of East European University of Economics and Management (Ukraine). During my studying I have been interested in Russell L. Ackoff’ s works. I should be grateful if you would send me contacts of those who carry out such researches or who follow Russell L. Ackoff’s trend.
I appreciate your kind reply in advance.
I am looking forward to your answer.
Yours Faithfully,
Mr. Jaba Jolokhava
Jaba Jolokhava The W. Edwards Deming Institute is continuing the work Russell Ackoff did during his life. Deming and Ackoff were friends, and this video is from an event celebrating Deming's work after his death in 1993. You can contact the Deming Institute here...
www.deming.org
I also recommend the individual work of Marcia Daszko...
www.mdaszko.com
Thanks very much i will try
Damn, this is interesting.
I'm happy you enjoyed this talk. Russ taught a very important lesson at the end here: That we are focusing on efficiency (doing what we do better) when we should really focus on effectiveness (doing what really needs to be done). I hope you will look for other videos of him. And thanks for commenting!
That's an ICE BREAKER
Mic drop!
240p, we meet again.
It is Astonishing how UA-cam algoritm bring here
Noted Imma from 2500
Today im in 2023
So Prepare Hooman time machine is comin
9:21
Thank you for paying attention to what Russ said. 😃
He seems to go off of the rails a bit during the last minute or so; otherwise very informative.
Russ frequently quoted management pioneer Peter Drucker, who said "We are getting better and better at doing the wrong things. We must start doing the right things, even if we do them poorly at first.". What you refer to as "going off the rails a bit" is actually Russ pointing out that continuing to build automobiles (even if those autos get better each year) is "doing the wrong thing" because the massive traffic jams that cars create (no matter how well they are made) is harming people's abilities to live.
I suggest you review/research the principles of discontinuous change. If you do, you'll better understand why Russ ended by essentially saying "having cars world wide is, in itself, a problem we must solve".
@@SteveBrant55 Thank you.
Ackoff was entertaining but misleading. People hear/read him as saying you cannot improve the behavior of a system by improving its parts. This is wrong, very wrong.
Wrt his automobile story. Improving the engine, or the transmission, of a particular automobile does indeed improve the efficiency of the whole. And it is by such piecemeal improvements that today's motor cars are very much cleaner, safer and more efficient than those of his day
Wrt his pollution story. The pollution caused by cars has been massively reduced by continual improvements to the parts that contribute to pollution.
Wrt his architect story. No biological system has been architected; all have reached their current astonishingly effective and efficient state by a process of continual incremental improvement. The modern practice of agile system development does indeed work by building a room, then adding other rooms.
McKinsey famously reported that 70% of enterprise transformations fail. The governmental systems of the USA, and other countries in the West and beyond, have evolved by a process of continual incremental improvement. The track record revolutionary change to a nation’s systems is appalling, has led to mass starvations and loss of freedom.
Thank you for demonstrating the need for more people to learn to view the challenges we face from the systems thinking perspective Russ Ackoff taught. (See also W. Edwards Deming and Buckminster Fuller for other pioneers in this way of viewing the world.) You refer to one part of society and then another and then another... insisting that each part's improvement happens in a particular way. This approach fails to address what Russ taught: Improving society one part at a time makes it impossible to accomplish the most important improvement of them all: the redesign of society as a whole. Societal transformation is not a "one part at a time" process. It involves changing the foundational value system that controls the design of the whole. It is that design that is killing us today. Only a transformation (aka societal redesign) will get humanity out of the crisis it faces.
I urge you to recognize the limits of your "one part at a time" (aka analytic thinking) world view and begin to study systems thinking. It is the future of problem solving.
@@SteveBrant55 The examples are Ackoff’s. What you say runs contrary to mountains of evidence. All the complex biological and sociological systems we know of have grown by tiny incremental changes over billennia and millennia. Most social revolutions have failed, and been reversed.
Climate change can only be tackled by many distinct initiatives on numerous fronts, most of them technological, rather than changing “the foundational value system that controls the design of the whole”, as you put it.
No social system “designed as a whole” according some “value system” has ever succeeded. All societies maintain themselves through the efforts of people cooperating in a variety of ways, as family members, as friends, as customers and suppliers, as employers and employees. The main difference between nations is the extent to which its society is controlled from the top, in a totalitarian way, by a powerful elite. Your choice is North Korea at one end of the scale and the USA at the other. Which do you prefer?
I disagree with Ackoff about picking Japanese engineering on automobile as a very very bad example. Putting in context of people living on an island and learn how to be economical, efficient that they figure out to optimize things in many ways, that is the art. Why not talking about big ass American trucks that are hogging gallons of gas and dumping pollution to the air. Its not their fault to design such cars, its being abused due to being cheap, small and efficient.
genius@work here ! wow
Thanks for commenting. He sure was! We must stop "getting better and better at doing the wrong things."