If I were to ask you who has the greatest impact on the safety and comfort of your flight on a commercial airline, what would you say? You might answer that it is the pilots; after all, they’re the ones who handle the takeoffs and landings and directly control how the plane operates under various circumstances. But then again, you might answer that it’s the flight attendants, given that they have more contact with you during the flight. But if you really think about it, you may want to credit the designers of the aircraft, since they put the systems and structures of the airplane in place. (Now you know who to complain to about the carry-on luggage restrictions!) Whereas pilots and flight attendants work in the system, the aircraft designers work on the system—and therefore have the most influence on your experience of flying.

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    This idea—of working on the system as opposed to in the system—is a key lesson about systems thinking to take with you after reading this volume. How can we become better designers of systems rather than mere operators? The concepts and tools introduced in this volume are a good start. We talked about what systems are, how they generate the patterns and events we see around us, and how they behave. We also talked about seeing the world in terms of interconnected reinforcing and balancing loops with delays. Finally, we saw how causal loop diagramming can be a powerful tool for depicting our understanding of systemic behavior, and for gaining insights into avenues for change.

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    All of these things can help us take the first steps toward becoming true systems thinkers. We hope that this introductory volume has given you a valuable foundation—one that will encourage you to try using these powerful perspectives and tools to begin shaping your future in a new way.

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