Betterworldbuys.com is transitioning to a new systems approach in the operations of our business. The systems approach is being taken to assure that as a company, we are focused not just on sales or profits, but on our interconnectedness with our stakeholders and our planet.

As a quick primer, to the science of systems thinking, I give you the late Donella H. Meadows explanation of systems thinking via her Slinky example:

“A Slinky is a toy—a long, loose spring that can be made to bounce up and down, or pour back and forth from hand to hand, or walk itself downstairs.

I perch the slinky on one upturned palm. With the fingers of the other hand, I grasp it from the top, partway down its coils. Then I pull the bottom hand away. The lower end of the slinky drops, bounces back up again, yo-yo’s up and down, suspended from my fingers above.

“What made the slinky bounce up and down like that?” I ask students.

“Your hand. You took away your hand,” they say.

So I pick up the box the slinky came in and hold it the same way, poised on a flattened palm, held from above by the fingers of the other hand. With as much dramatic flourish as I can muster, I pull the lower hand away.

Nothing happens. The box just hangs there, of course.

“Now once again. What made the Slinky bounce up and down?”

The answer clearly lies within the Slinky itself. The hands that manipulate it suppress or release some behavior that is latent within the structure of the spring.

That is the central insight of systems thinking” (Meadows, 2008, p.1).

The betterworldbuys.com transition to a systems approach will be transparent to our clients. Within our organization, however, we will focus on concepts of personal mastery, understanding our mental models and how they influence our perceptions of the world, building a shared vision, learning as a team, and systems thinking to enable us to see the impacts of our actions on our stakeholders.

We aspire to use this new approach to more effectively promote self-awareness and environmental and social consciousness through responsible consumerism.

For more information on systems thinking and the benefits of an organizational systems approach, you can refer to Meadows text referenced below or to these online resources: Creative Learning Exchange at www.clexchange.org, The Systems Thinker and Leverage Points newsletters published by www.pegasuscom.com.

Meadows, D. H. (2008) Thinking in systems: A primer. White River Junction:
Chelsea Green Publishing.