Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #12

Benjamin P. Taylor
15 min readAug 28, 2021

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I have ‘gone long’ this week; since Revue doesn’t (as advertised/promised) pull through all my Twitter feed, I’ve gone through manually. See this as a ‘sunday supplement’, rich reading for your brunch? Maybe…

Feedback very welcome!

Top phive of the week

I’m giving the practitioner keynote in the systems thinking stream at the OR Society’s 63rd Annual Conference

www.theorsociety.com

I’m honoured and strangely overawed to be giving the systems thinking stream practitioner keynote, with Angela Espinosa giving the academic keynote, and some truly brilliant sessions in the stream)

Conscious Organization conference, 7–8 October

www.consciousorg.net

I’m hosting and presenting on what feels like an important theme; how can organisations become more conscious?

Benjamin P. Taylor on LinkedIn: Australasian Change Days — join us!www.linkedin.com
What would you like to learn about organisational change? I’m super excited to be speaking with a stellar set of speakers — Rory Sutherland, no less, …

I’m proud of RedQuadrant

chosen-path.org
I try to make these posts interesting, challenging, accessible. But today I’m just going to be proud of my company for a minute here. What’s your big achievement at the moment? Mine is that we set up in public services consultancy in 2009, just as the good times turned into full-blown austerity. We survived that, … Continue reading I’m proud of RedQuadrant →

Systems convening

chosen-path.org
Do you enable learning across boundaries? Can you connect people across silos? Are you able to bring a broader view to local settings? Have you heard of systems conveners? Are you one? Or do you simply want to learn more about this approach? Please like, share, and comment here:https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_systems-convening-launch-2-september-join-activity-6836192316554907648-965K Register for the launch on 2 September: https://bit.ly/SCBookLaunch Download … Continue reading Systems convening →

Finally — I’m seen! | Wenger-Trayner | Systems Community of Inquiry

stream.syscoi.com

Systems conveners: essential workers long term In 2014, we wrote a chapter on what we called “systems conveners,” people who work to increase learning capability across a whole social landscape that includes many practices, institutions, and stakeholders. It’s not just…

public | service | transformation

RedQuadrant qualifies for a record 17 lots on cross-public service framework contract

www.govtransformation.org
Launching today, the new iteration of the ESPO Consultancy Services Framework. Run by the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation on behalf of all UK public services (and accessible to charities and other bodies too), we are proud to have been on this framework for ten years. This is a record year for us, though, as we […]

Martin Barrow on Twitter: “Heck…this will be the 39th children’s home in the Moorlands (in and around Leek). Bleak consequence of the marketisation of children in care https://t.co/zl2LGBXTrN"twitter.com
There are 122 registered children’s homes in the whole of London, to put this into context.

Conservative Friends of Cycling on Twittertwitter.com
A challenge for Friday. Can anyone think of a single usage of this sign that has constituted sensible and appropriate advice — and for the bonus point — that a single cyclist has acted on. At which point — why is it used at all? Can’t we just ban their usage?

createstreets on Twitter “twitter.com
Good buildings can make places better.

Mark Pack 🔶 on Twitter: “THE MOST GLORIOUS BUREAUCRACY: Got a reason today as to why the leak is still a-leaking. Thames Water need a permit to do the repair. They have a permit, but it’s the wrong sort. But they can’t apply for the right permit until the wrong permit, which they can’t use, expires.… https://t.co/U7i4IARyVs"

twitter.com
Fifteen months and one day update: leak is still a-leaking. No repair date yet from @thameswater twitter.com/markpack/statu…

David Brindle on Twitter: “Uh oh — government #socialcare reform thinking ‘felt like it was from the 1980s’ …… “

twitter.com
Your description for this link…

Adrian Reed on Twitter: “Did you know there’s a Gov UK website listing which local authorities are asking for help (goods/services) for refugees, and even if your area isn’t listed you can let them know what you can offer. https://t.co/paSHnUTbFC See tweet below…… https://t.co/8tw4RSXlky"

twitter.com

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “£3bn gap looms for councils https://t.co/tgpBkQhRlF"

twitter.com

Grinding, crushing austerity continues.

Environmental and social justice, ethics in public life

UK spending far more on polluting policies than green ones, says WWF

www.theguardian.com
Just £145m of budget went on environment with £40bn spent on emissions-increasing measures, says charity

“Fun fact: These lists only started being published after the 2012 sting on Peter Cruddas Or should I say, since February 2021, Tory peer Lord Cruddas… https://t.co/ydOXz3ylvF"twitter.com
EXCLUSIVE: Tories refuse to reveal billionaire donor dinners In 2020, Conservative Party said it was “committed” to publishing list of Leader’s Group meals “in due course”. But it never appeared — and now party is refusing to repeat that commitment https://mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tories-refuse-reveal-billionaire-donor-24825563

Phil Jones on Twittertwitter.com
“One Italian factory has supplied a new price list to include the extra VAT, tariffs, and haulage costs. A ceiling light that, last year, I sold for £185 I now have to price at £259. I haven’t increased my margins and I’m not making any more.”

It’s been over a century, but summer chinook are back in the Little Spokane River: ‘It’s kind of a spiritual experience’ | The Spokesman-Reviewwww.spokesman.com
For the first time in 111 years, summer chinook are swimming in the Little Spokane River.

Dr Phil Hammond 💙 on Twittertwitter.com
Dear Mr Javid, it would be enormously helpful if you could name this hospital and the other 47, and also clarify what you mean by ‘new’. Are these new buildings on new sites, or modifications and upgrades of existing services?

Rachel Coldicutt on Twitter

twitter.com
This is a fascinating thread to pull if you’re interested in moral panic as a regulatory mechanism in a capitalist society.

jake lingwood on Twitter

twitter.com

“Brilliant, spikey no-bullshit summary of Afghani-shambles by @ShippersUnbound and @joshglancy in @thetimes . ‘The idea that we didn’t see this coming is bollocks. We spent six months telling people to get out’ says minister. https://t.co/zOOcMPwjnp"

Aric Toler on Twitter: “The FBI got bored of trying to convince 17-yeas-old Muslims to try and blow up the Brooklyn Bridge, and have moved on to running white supremacist publishing houses and kidnapping governors.… https://t.co/skFX9anvXS"

twitter.com
This is potentially massive. It’s been confirmed in court documents that Joshua Sutter, one of the Atomwaffen leaders (and one of the biggest O9A proponents), is an FBI informant. More here: https://twitter.com/awinston/status/1429086087830515717?s=20

Dr Mike Galsworthy on Twitter: ““So Marcus Rashford should stick to football but Ian Botham should get involved in trade deals,” wrote one Twitter user. Perfect 🔥. https://t.co/lxKGpElYKh"twitter.com

‘Govt by satire:’ Botham, Donaldson and Hoey installed as trade envoys — costly reactions

Debra Allcock Tyler: There’s little honour in the old system — so let’s start over | Third Sector

www.thirdsector.co.uk
Admirable people from all walks of life are recognised with honours, but this horribly flawed system seems rigged to reflect existing inequalities and power structures

Carlos E. Perez on Twitter: “The state of machine learning practice:… “twitter.com

Paul Burston 💙 on Twitter: “Another gay man physically attacked — this time in a park in Tower Hamlets, beaten to death. Those of us old enough to have lived and fought through the 80s could be forgiven for thinking that times like these were behind us. What the hell is going on?”twitter.com
Another gay man physically attacked — this time in a park in Tower Hamlets, beaten to death. Those of us old enough to have lived and fought through the 80s could be forgiven for thinking that times like these were behind us. What the hell is going on?

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “Over a third of the most deprived areas will not benefit from Levelling Up Fund https://t.co/73BaQy12Ux"twitter.com

The title says it all — at least there is now a legal inquiry.

Sam Lowe on Twitter: “Would it be churlish to say “I told you so”? UK manufacturers to win big concession on post-Brexit quality mark https://t.co/ASMFv5FkU7"twitter.com

Richard D. Bartlett on Twitter: “this seems incredibly important to understand… “twitter.com
Just updated the Closed Loop of Domination-Based Masculinity video. Added a crucial frame which is now frame number 8. Kind of shocked I didn’t get to this sooner.

Ronald Brownstein on Twittertwitter.com

“What hath Zuckerberg wrought: “Facebook said Saturday evening that an article raising concerns that the coronavirus vaccine could lead to death was the top performing U.S. link on its platform from January through March” https://t.co/wKz0bhJUHE"

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “Siri, show me ‘victim blaming’… “

twitter.com

“The British people repeatedly voted to end free movement and take back control of our immigration system and employers should invest in our domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad,” a Home Office spokesperson said…

Rebecca Cavetwitter.com

How safe is our data in HMRC’s hands? Great article for #TaxTwitter to chew on. Good to see input from tax partner @Tick_Tax Also @litrgnews — https://ft.com/content/d8ce73a3-2585-4af1-a91b-d0278a2ea40b?shareType=nongift… via @FT

Andrew Doyle on Twitter: “Even as he was being arrested by the Taliban, the comedian Nazar Mohammad was making jokes about them to their faces. He was later found dead. “The greatest enemy of authority is contempt, and the surest way to undermine it is laughter” — Hannah Arendt https://t.co/GF7ARA7YH0"twitter.com

The patriarchy is dead … but the kyriarchy lives on | Nichi Hodgson | The Guardian

www.theguardian.com
Nichi Hodgson: ‘Patriarchy’ is no longer relevant when ethnicity, class, education and gender, intersect to oppress men and women alike

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “Care home giant HC-One hikes fees for residents while owners cash in https://t.co/rYWpcUDMWZ Sir David Behan CBE Appointed Chair of HC-ONE https://t.co/bqQYYQ5T2s"

twitter.com

Sam Freedman on Twitter

twitter.com

“The War in Afghanistan is not the failure of a man…but of an entire leadership class.” “We must relearn how to be serious” Great essay and a v helpful reading list at the end.… https://t.co/45taf5qlIG"

Understanding Society: Social change and agencyunderstandingsociety.blogspot.com

Elite Education | The Point Magazine

thepointmag.com
One of the wonders of modern academia is that the ideal of workplace democracy should be so prevalent among people who regularly endure faculty meetings. […]

Cautioning Health-Care Professionals: Bereaved Persons Are Misguided Through the Stages of Grief — Margaret Stroebe, Henk Schut, Kathrin Boerner, 2017

journals.sagepub.com
Science and practice seem deeply stuck in the so-called stage theory of grief. Health-care professionals continue to “prescribe” stages. Basically, this perspective endorses the idea that bereaved …

systems | complexity | cybernetics

Abeba Birhane on Twitter: “Artificial Intelligence, A Guide for Thinking Humans — Melanie Mitchell

stream.syscoi.com

An excellent read-along tweet stream

The Impossibility of Automating Ambiguity | Birhane (2021) | Systems Community of Inquiry

stream.syscoi.com

Abstract On the one hand, complexity science and enactive and embodied cognitive science approaches emphasize that people, as complex adaptive…

The Ghost in the System:

stream.syscoi.com

Harish’s Notebook — My notes… Lean, Cybernetics, Quality & Data Science.: In today’s post, I am looking at the idea of ‘category mistake’ by the eminent British philosopher Gilbert Ryle. Ryle was an ardent opponent of Rene Descartes’ view of mind-body dualism. Ryle also came up with the phrase ‘the ghost…

OU 50th STiP Seminar: On Being a System within Systems with Tyson Yunkaporta, Tue 7 Sep 2021 at 12:00 UK timestream.syscoi.com

by The Open University, Faculty of STEM Event Information Tyson’s work involves applying an […]

Boundary critique and its implications for conflict prevention | Midgley and Pinzon (20110) | Systems Community of Inquirystream.syscoi.com
pdf[PDF] Boundary critique and its implications for conflict prevention | Semantic Scholar Boundary critique and its implications for conflict prevention G. Midgley, Luis A. PinzónPublished 2011Economics, Computer ScienceJournal of the Operational Research Society This paper reviews developments in the theory of boundary critique, which has been used in a number of OR projects to support conflict resolution.…

So You Think That There is a Mind-Independent Physical Reality…www.youtube.com
A short but rather amusing clip of Dan Robinson discussing Berkeley’s subjective idealism in a lecture on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and the Refutation o…

Democratizing Access To The Tools For Transformation | by Otto Scharmer | Field of the Future Blog | Aug, 2021 | Medium

stream.syscoi.com

a common theme!

Measuring Narrative Change, v2.0 ORS Impact (2021)

stream.syscoi.com
Measuring Narrative Change: Understanding Progress and Navigating Complexity Measuring Narrative Change, v2.0

Maurice Yolles: Autopoietic Efficacy — A Metacybernetic View — Some Ideas — YouTube (Club of Remy) | Systems Community of Inquiry

stream.syscoi.com
Maurice Yolles: Autopoietic Efficacy — A Metacybernetic View — Some Ideas (1) Maurice Yolles: Autopoietic Efficacy — A Metacybernetic View — Some Ideas — YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvpO4uFbTc0

The Game B research archive and: The under-appreciated drive for sense-making — Chater and Loewenstein (2015) | Systems Community of Inquiry

stream.syscoi.com
I have an affection for and an interest in ‘Game B’ and/but I can’t help thinkin there’s a peculiarly ‘Game A’, rationalist drive behind it. Like the thinking is almost there, but not quite… anyway, this is a nice example — a nice article but not a framing that fundamentally appeals to me. From the…

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “Wait, is *that* what people mean by ‘sensemaking’? Dealing with the unknown? I… guess? But for me, it’s recasting the known as the unknown, and going from there… Sensemaking https://t.co/gxDfoStACl"twitter.com

Ivo Velitchkov on Twitter: “All Affordances Are Social: Foundations of a Gibsonian Social Ontology https://t.co/VEpPJfQPFW"twitter.com

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “Going, going, gone… and start again — Tom Graves / Tetradian https://t.co/CT3h3JizrJ

twitter.com

“EWITA — enterprise-wide IT-architecture. It does have its valid uses, but it should never be described as ‘enterprise-architecture’” Fare thee well, Tom!”

Santa Fe Institute on Twitter: ““Life, like eyes, is a story of converging on similar functions not inheriting similar functions.” SFI’s David Krakauer and Chris Kempes explain their new framework for life’s multiple origins @SYFYWIRE https://t.co/ZhiBkpDgxl"twitter.com

“Metamodernism / Sensemaking Philosophy | °Milleplateaux https://t.co/6avIzJeoyW"

twitter.com

“Bateson on Information — Sloman (2018) https://t.co/iNdZjSz7a3"

twitter.com

“Disorder/Order: Discovery or Invention? | von Foerster (1984) https://t.co/grlOTrim1K"

twitter.com

Organisational development / transformation

The Dynamics of Vertical and Horizontal Diversity in Organization and Society — Susan M. Awbrey, 2007

stream.syscoi.com

Published March 1, 2007 Research Articlehttps://doi.org/10.1177/1534484306295638 Article information Abstract Diversity focuses on human characteristics that make…

More brain food

Philip Agre predicted technology’s pitfalls and then he disappeared — The Washington Post

www.washingtonpost.com
Philip Agre earned his PhD in 1989 in computer science, but his greatest impact came when he left the technical side of the field and helped create the field of social informatics, or the study of how technology and humanity interact. Then he disappeared, leaving behind a legacy of work that was eerily prescient in predicting how technology would impact society.

How to Deal With Your Childhood Trauma As an Adultlifehacker.com
Recovering from childhood adversity is no easy feat — but these strategies can help.

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “Embed “Stand Down and Bubble Up” Into Your Culture Now So You’ll Be Ready Later https://t.co/hSPop811A5"twitter.com

An excellent piece from Derek Cabrera

A biography of the pixel, the elementary particle of pictures | Aeon Essays — Alvy Ray Smith

stream.syscoi.com
Pixel: a biography A biography of the pixel, the elementary particle of pictures | Aeon Essays Pixel: a biography An exact mathematical concept, pixels are the elementary particles of pictures, based on a subtle unpacking of infinityWoody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story (1995). Main image courtesy of Pixar Animation Studios; all additional inset diagrams © Alvy […]

Blind mice use echolocationtwitter.com
“A recent Science study presents strong evidence for a new echolocating lineage within mammals, finding that a genus of blind mice — the soft-furred tree mice — is capable of echolocation. https://t.co/1IpP7fE6UX #ScienceResearch”

Metaphors of Changewww.samrye.xyz
Exploring different metaphors for change to support individuals and teams to better navigate organisational transformation.

Why some of the smartest people can be so very stupid | Psyche Ideaspsyche.co
Struggling to understand is perfectly honourable. Being wilfully stupid is something else and we should strive to fix it

The Extinctions on Twitter: “THREAD: The ancient history of the wolf. (1) Feared, hated, respected, worshipped; few animals inspire as many — and as mixed — emotions as the wolf. Both idol and anathema, their prominence in human culture reflects their abundance in nature. Here we will explore their history… https://t.co/sHZocbGEkR"twitter.com

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “You Don’t Have a Lizard Brain https://t.co/mkNRHWxkul"twitter.com

The Unrepeatable Architectural Moment of Yugoslavia’s “Concrete Utopia” | The New Yorkerwww.newyorker.com
Justin McGuirk writes about the MoMA exhibition “Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980,” and the renewed interest in Yugoslavian architecture, which reflected the country’s alternative political reality.

Interlude

Sam on Twittertwitter.com

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking about this carving of a dog, glowing gold from unknown thousands of pats from loving hands, over four and half centuries.… https://t.co/zRvbPFQuf9"

The Blue Nile — Peace At Last Promo (1996)www.youtube.com
The Blue Nile promo video for “Peace At Last” from 1996.

Wally the wandering walrus sets up home on a motorboat | World News | Sky News

news.sky.com
An appeal has been launched in Co Cork for a pontoon for Wally to use as a ‘safe haul-out site’. Walruses are semi-aquatic and must come up on land to rest.

Ryuichi Sakamoto / Relâchewww.youtube.com

Sakamoto makes genres irrelevant. Funky Kraftwerk meats Knight Rider?

Dave Brubeck — Golden Brownwww.youtube.com
Stream, download, or order the vinyl — https://song.link/x8dbz30pxcDBQFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/TakeVibe/A little tribute to Dave Greenfield (keybo…

Benjamin P. Taylor on Twitter: “Paul Simon — Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (from The Concert in Hyde Park) https://t.co/ugCoBA2Uzb We were there :-)… https://t.co/ItgFlfAUzC"twitter.com
Your description for this link…

Mark Goes Dancing at Rainbow Rhythms | Peep Showwww.youtube.com
Subscribe to Channel 4 Comedy: https://bit.ly/2OCDHlcWatch the FULL SERIES on All 4: https://bit.ly/2F8OiB6Jez accompanies Mark on a date with Sophie to Rain…

The Fall — A Day In The Lifewww.youtube.com
The Fall do a Beatles cover for the NME compilation ‘Sgt Pepper Knew My Father’.

Hit songs rely on increasing “harmonic surprise” to hook listeners, study finds | Ars Technicaarstechnica.com
Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” ranked highest in challenging musical expectations.

Benjamin P. Taylor on LinkedIn: David Gray — Birds Without Wings (Official Video)www.linkedin.com

Never more apposite

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Benjamin P. Taylor
Benjamin P. Taylor

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