Ashish Kothari explains systemic intelligence: the idea that recurring workplace problems stem from deeper family-system patterns, not surface symptoms. Treating only what you see leads to repetition or escalation. The real causes stay hidden.
Chapters
Systemic intelligence for me is to really see organizations and teams, but also communities and schools as living systems. And we are very aware of systems because we were born into a system. So our family system is the first system that we get to know. And the dynamics there often very much influence. It's a very early, strong imprint that influence how we show up in data systems. So it's to understand that an organization is a living system with its own intelligence. So very often the dynamics that we see now, what we call symptoms are a reflection of something either deeper on deeper levels or something that has had has its roots much earlier on. Why is it so essential to not just fight the symptoms? Because when you just fight the symptoms, at best they will repeat itself. Oh, this happened two years ago as well. We're doing this again. At its worst, it's making it worse because you're really not understanding what is really going on. Does that mean I always have the full picture of what is really going on?
