Systems Thinking for Social Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists, and Policy Makers

About

This webinar introduces the mindsets and skills for thinking about systems and learning to map them—essential knowledge for any social entrepreneur, philanthropist, policy maker, or citizen who wants to understand how the world really works and solve just about any problem facing society.

Social problems are complex. Whether we are focused on climate change, homelessness, racism, or pandemics, we confront a vast array of agents, behaviors, incentives, institutions, contexts, and materials. Every effort to solve these problems requires understanding causal relationships beyond those that are readily visible and predicting consequences from interventions beyond those that are intended. Without such foresight, solutions can fail and sometimes have unintended adverse consequences.

Systems thinking reveals the web of associations in which such problems reside. It seeks to identify causal relationships among the multiple factors that generate problems and to help design enduring solutions.

For social entrepreneurs, systems thinking can emphasize where and how they are most likely to get their best results. Systems thinking can also help philanthropists assess impact from their investments and define success. For policy makers, systems thinking can help reveal unintended consequences from courses of action.

This webinar uses examples from the free online course Thinking in Systems. Participants are encouraged to browse this course before the webinar, and to use it as a resource afterwards.