Systems Thinking and The Zone of Denial

We all face choices. The decision to accept a problem is made in an instant. It’s an instinctive reflexive reaction usually made on the basis of an emotional response rather than a rational response. If you’ve chosen to downplay the problem, then chances are you won’t deal with it until it mushrooms to the point where the problem is large enough you can no longer ignore it. Let's say you accept the problem exists and you undertake to fix it. But you're only fixing that single instance of the problem. In truth, creating a band-aid solution. But in truth there is a third type of solution that requires a different way of thinking. It requires systems thinking In systems thinking, you don’t solve a discrete problem. You create a solution that solves the immediate problem and prevents the problem from ever occurring again.