Aperture Strategy Ltd

Aperture's Book of the Month for November 2024 For our penultimate book of 2024 we turn to the political economist Mariana Mazzucato whose concept of ‘mission based’ government has recently been adopted eagerly by the current UK government. ‘Mission Economy’ (Allen Lane, 2021) urges reform of the relationship between government and the private sector. She has a clear political agenda, where government sets ambitious goals around significant societal challenges, and incentivises the private sector to innovate towards their resolution. Our interest, however, is in the underlying theme of a systems approach to market growth. We were looking forward to reading her book as bringing much needed systems perspective to government. Unfortunately, we were disappointed. In principle, setting out a future desired outcome, and then conducting activities to affect relationships in the market is a systems thinking approach. A ‘mission based’ approach by government is dangerous if it moves too quickly from ‘mission’ to action without actively managing the effect that is created along the way. Mazzucato offers little to address this. The example of NASA’s Apollo programme briefs well, but that was a complicated problem set in a largely technological arena, with relatively consistent boundaries. A predominantly social system, with all its complex adaption and the unpredictable emergence of new behaviours, is a very different scale of challenge. ‘Mission Economy’ presumes a benign and unitary operating environment; in contrast, the political arena is fiercely competitive and coercive. Mazzucato’s prescription for a mission-focused government will be compelling to many in advocating a multi-disciplinary approach to the most intractable challenges faced by society. But the detail is dangerous. There is a particular problem if the term ‘mission’ replaces ‘policy’ to imply novelty; using different words doesn’t change the challenge that government has had for decades in constructing and pursuing sustainable and integrated policy. Those demons are buried deeper. There is also the problem of who sets the mission in the first place; it's not just the relationship between the public and private sectors that requires re-definition but that with civil society and the electorate. On the face of it Mazzucato’s premise will be attractive, especially to systems thinkers, but if adopted piecemeal there is potential to hijack the concept to serve purely political intent. That would doing a grave disservice to a sorely needed systems approach. 'Mission Economy’ is recommended as a perspective to consider, but the message is clear: beware political economists bearing gifts. Were it to be consulted, the systems thinking community offers much less perilous advice. Aperture Strategy Ltd #aperturestrategy #fourframes #strategydesign #sensemaking #navigatingcomplexity #systemsthinking

Thoughts on Systems Thinking and Complexity... "The systems approach begins when you first see the world through the eyes of another." C. West Churchman, 'The Systems Approach', (1968) Aperture Strategy Ltd #systemsthinking. #fourframes. #strategydesign

Thoughts on Systems Thinking and Complexity... "In the case of all things which have several parts and in which the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something beside the parts..." Aristotle, 'Metaphysics'. Aperture Strategy Ltd #SystemsThinking. #strategydesign. #fourframes #emergentstrategy

As Jerry Muller says in our book of the month for October, "There are things that can be measured. There are things that are worth measuring. But what can be measured is not always worth measuring; what gets measured may have no relationship to what we really want to know." Aperture Strategy Ltd #systemsthinking. #fourframes. #strategydesign

NHS Reform: Another Set of Silver Bullets? Government pledges to reform the NHS are welcomed everywhere, and there is much to commend the rhetoric of the approach following the Darzi Report. Structural change with a focus on leadership is certainly an area on which to focus - among many. As has been proven in the past, however, silver bullets are not sustainable solutions when fired in isolation. The increased framework of targets, incentives, and league tables announced today by the Secretary of State risks being hugely counter productive. Systems thinkers have long felt that an over-reliance on quantitative metrics distorts understanding and drives negative behaviour. The NHS is already soaked in the culture of chasing metrics. Its 'problem' lies elsewhere, in the intangible world of silos and stovepipes, not in piecemeal performance but in accumulated effect. At the moment the accumulated effect of over-regulation and the over-use of targets and metrics is institutional paralysis and an overly-internal focus. It is to be hoped that the Department of Health and Social Care will think very carefully about how best to develop targets and league tables so that this culture is not reinforced. Aperture Strategy Ltd #fourframes. #systemsthinking. #strategydesign

Thoughts on Systems Thinking and Complexity... "It is not possible to step into the same river twice... Panta rhei (everything flows)." Attributed to Heraclitus.

Thoughts on Systems Thinking and Complexity... "It is not possible to step into the same river twice... Panta rhei (everything flows)." Attributed to Heraclitus.

Ten books reviewed so far this year...two more to go. We've selected titles that stimulate thought around strategy design and systems thinking and in January will propose one as our 'Book of the Year'. Which one(s) have you found most interesting? We've already chosen our book of the month for November. Which one do you suggest should be our Christmas read? Aperture Strategy Ltd #systemsthinking. #strategydesign. #fourframes

Thoughts on Systems Thinking and Complexity... "There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." William Shakespeare, 'Hamlet', Act 1, Scene V.

Thoughts on Systems Thinking and Complexity... "There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." William Shakespeare, 'Hamlet', Act 1, Scene V.