I am ready to see some real change happen locally, nationally and globally. I am tired of mediocrity and seeing tax dollars used inefficiently. Everyone, including elected politicians, government staff, activists and community members, can commit to think more systemically and not allow ourselves to frame reality linearly.
Linear thinking stems from Newtonian physics and basically assumes that everything in life operates like a machine. Reality can be broken down into parts to analyze the cause and effects. Individuals using linear thinking focus on symptoms instead of the real problems. This type of thinking usually results in loss of time, energy and money, without a lot of return on expenditures. Systems thinking is a shift from Newtonian to quantum physics, focusing on wholes instead of parts and emphasizing the relationship and interaction of all influences involved.
Individuals committed to this shift of mind from linear to systemic thinking create transformation and sustainable change by understanding where real leverage and efficiency lie. They understand not just content, but also process and premise, identifying the underlying process and patterns that all create the current reality. An example of useful linear thinking: You are driving down the road and your car stops. You notice the gas odometer is below empty and conclude your car is out of gas. The effect in this reality is your car stopped and linear thinking helped you conclude that the cause was no gas.
If you are a local politician like Carl Mumpower, linear thinking will not be effective or efficient in community issues. Mumpower has blamed the APD and the drug-suppression unit led by Chris Young for not doing enough in our city to stop drug dealers. This is a perfect example of linear thinking resulting in an expenditure of time, energy and money that ultimately gets little lasting result. Broken down, this situation looks like this: The symptom is that drug dealers are selling at will in Asheville, creating safety issues, higher crime rates and rising numbers of individuals with addictions. Mumpower claims this is caused by an insufficient effort of the APD. The real problem lies in the fact that drugs are a commodity.
With systemic thinking, all those involved could work together to uncover the patterns and relationships that create the problems. Together, new systemic strategies and drug policies could be created that could result in lasting transformation.
I have the utmost respect for all the parties involved and know that all of us have been trained to view things linearly, whether we realize it or not. My hope is that our current Asheville City Council will not change this coming fall. I hope those in power, which really is all of us, will listen to one another, make real structural transformations, create policies and take actions that work towards our overall goals, while challenging ourselves to think more systemically.
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