Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Manager's Guide to Applying Systems Thinking [Paperback]

Dennis Sherwood (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 185788311X | ISBN-13: 978-1857883114 | Publication Date: August 27, 2002

Dennis Sherwood's Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Manager's Guide to Applying Systems Thinking is a wealth of tips and advice on everything from managing a busy back office to negotiating an outsourcing deal. The book argues that only by taking a broad view can we avoid the dangers of a silo mentality, in which a fix here simply shifts the problem there, and organizational myopia, in which a fix now gives rise to a much bigger problem to fix later. Systems thinking can help you tame the complexity of real-world problems by providing a structured way to balance broad views with a selection of relevant details, allowing you to accurately see the forest for the trees. With this handy guide, you can turn the old adage on its head and get ahead in business at the same time!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rich in detail...a great learning resource. A first-rate book of substance and quality. Highly recommended." -- Stern's Management Review

A practical handbook which explains the basics of systems thinking and shows how to construct causal loop diagrams and computerized -- The Midwest Book Review

From the Inside Flap

Drawing on his distinguished background as a scholar, consultant, and business executive, Dennis Sherwood tackles complexity head-on as he demonstrates how systems thinking can provide a structured way of balancing a broad overall view of the issues at hand with specific action steps for dealing with the right level of detail—truly allowing you to ‘see the forest for the trees.’ With dozens of examples of systems thinking in action, the author details:

*12 Golden Rules for drawing causal loop diagrams
*The role of systems thinking and the power of causal loop diagrams in building consensus, in building high-performing teams, and in exercising one’s leadership
*A generic systems thinking model for strategy that can be used as an integral part of scenario planning
*A computer-based simulation modeling technique that harnesses the power of the computer to explore how a system evolves over time

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185788311X
• ISBN-13: 978-1857883114
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dennis Sherwood now runs his own consulting business, The Silver Bullet Machine Manufacturing Company Limited, which specialises on organisational creativity and innovation. Dennis studied physics at Clare College, Cambridge University (MA), molecular biophysics at Yale University (MPhil), and biology at the University of California at San Diego (PhD); Dennis is also a Sloan Fellow (with distinction) of London Business School. Dennis was for 12 years a consulting partner with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, and subsequently Coopers & Lybrand; he was an Executive Director with Goldman Sachs; a partner in Bossard Consultants; and Managing Director of the UK operations of SRI Consulting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with Knowledge!, March 1, 2004

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Manager's Guide to Applying Systems Thinking (Paperback)

This is an extraordinary, in the sense of out-of-the-ordinary, book. Flipping through it, you see page after page of loops and curves. At first, you might think it is a guide to drawing. And in a sense, it is. Most of the book explains how to use depictions of various types of loops to represent different kinds of business problems. Such problems never occur in isolation, because every business is a system, and everything that happens in a business has causes and effects that reach into other areas of the business and into the outside world. Author Dennis Sherwood is not peddling a simple notion, but rather is explaining "systems thinking," a method of analyzing systems and processes. We unexpectedly found this quite entertaining, written with a light touch and bound to give almost any manager some new, valuable insights. On the down side, the author probably could have delivered his core message more succinctly, and after a while his insistence on demonstrating and categorizing the species and genera of loops begins to seem, well, a bit loopy.