August 15, 2025

The Ackoff Rabbithole Begins

K, turns out there are a few Russ Ackoff fans on this here mailing list.

In particular, I was sent two mind-blowing videos that you absolutely should watch.

1) The first one is short, sweet, and specific:

Idealized Design, Systems Thinking, and a Model for Outlier Innovation, by Dr. Russell Ackoff

2) The second is much longer and takes some time to ramp up, but OMG it blew my mind so hard I immediately ordered every book he mentioned in the talk:

Systems Thinking Speech by Dr. Russell Ackoff

If you watch the whole second video and aren’t blown away by the frameworks he shared, plmk and I’ll spend some time breaking it down.

Many thanks to YY and MB for sharing!

Yours,

—J