social systems Archives

Mythmaking about speed and scale in social innovation

July 18, 2013September 4, 2013 Cameron D. Norman 728 Views Arab Spring, bureaucracy, complexity, contagion, epidemiology, innovation, Jenna Cullinane, Matthew Good, McKinsey & Company, patriarchy, Peter Block, Peter Drucker, scale, social change, social innovation, social systems, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Steve Davis

Yes, but does it scale? – Question asked at nearly every presentation on a social innovation ever made* It is

education & learning health innovation psychology

How Serious Are We About Learning?

July 26, 2012October 1, 2012 Cameron D. Norman 2607 Views behaviour change, Dan Pink, discovery, education, innovation, Jonah Lehrer, knowledge integration, learning, mindfulness, organizational change, psychology, public health, Robert Scott Root-Bernstein, social innovation, social systems, Steven Johnson, systems thinking, Toronto, University of Toronto

When journalist and book author Daniel Pink tweeted the above image the other day it provoked thinking about what real

education & learning evaluation systems thinking

Complexity and Child-Rearing: Why Amy Chua is Neither Right or Wrong

January 16, 2011January 16, 2011 Cameron D. Norman 831 Views Amy Chua, child rearing, children, complex adaptive systems, complexity, developmental evaluation, family, social systems

Science strives for precision and finding the right or at least the best answers to questions. The science of complexity means shifting our thinking from right answers to appropriate ones and what is best to good. The recent debate over parenting (particularly among Chinese families) illustrates how framing the issue and the outcomes makes a big difference. Is Amy Chua’s method of parenting successful or not, supportive or harmful, right or wrong? The answer is yes.

education & learning psychology systems thinking

Social Insularity and the Not-So-Wide World Web

July 16, 2010 Cameron D. Norman 651 Views Apple, diversity, global, Marshall McLuhan, media, politics, social media, social networks, social systems

The Internet holds promise of connecting people together in diverse celebration of knowledge. This dream hasn’t been realized and may not be unless we transform our technological networking tools with our psycho-social tools.