A Systems Thinking Decision-Making Process: How to Avoid Burnt Toast (Management for Professionals)

This book illustrates how to access the right information for making the best decisions during turbulent times. It is written from an experienced-based perspective that is beneficial for those looking for the development and improvement of the decision-making process. The approach is centered on the author’s experience in developing and implementing effective and efficient approaches to decision-making in business and government. Based on those experiences, this book provides insights into how to improve the decision making process of your organization, whether it be large or small.

For decision makers and those providing market information for making decisions, this book provide guidelines for a framework which includes systems thinking. For those interested in change management and corporate governance, the book presents examples where it was done well and some examples where it was not and the ensuring consequences.

Praise for Systems Thinking Decision-Making Process…

"This is an absolutely incredible book by a distinguished practitioner. The range of knowledge and experience that Vince Barabba has had is astounding. I urge everyone who is interested in complex, messy problems to read this amazing book.”

--Ian I. Mitroff

“…Vince has masterfully blended the art of organizational respect with the science of data inquiry to drive change and realize strategic vision.  A master storyteller, he does not just teach, his book brings his learnings to life in a meaningful way that if carefully listened to, can change the course of a career.”

-- Paul D'Alessandro

Principal, Health Industries, PwC US

“In his latest book, Vince Barabba integrates his vast knowledge from 50 years of dedicated work in both the public and private sectors in order to provide leaders with an actionable framework for radically improving how their organizations collect and use information to make the best decisions for all the wicked messes that now appear in our global village… This book can save your company from living in the dark with false assumptions about all your key stakeholders.”

-- Ralph H. Kilmann, Ph.D.

CEO, Kilmann Diagnostics

Co-Author, The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)

"Absorbing just a few of the many smart ideas in this book will make you a better leader and decision maker. Thinking systemically about how the hard-earned lessons from Vince Barabba’s brilliant career apply to your enterprise could make you a great one."

― Chunka Mui

Co-Author, A Brief History of a Perfect Future and Billion Dollar Lessons

“…if you are interested in ‘thinking in systems,’ this book is for you. The ‘On Star’ story demonstrates to you how the initial product-centered thinking was proselytized to ‘thinking in systems’."

-- John Pourdehnad

Visiting Professor, IESE Business School and Faulty of Systems Leadership, Thomas Jefferson University

“In writing Systems Thinking Decision-Making Process: How to Avoid Burnt Toast, Vince Barabba is addressing the limits of knowledge management systems which enable ‘organizations as usual’ to share best practices on how to scrape toast faster and cheaper… The examples shared by Vince, from his first-hand experiences in corporate America or his services as a marketing consultant, contribute invaluable clarity to his goal of providing a “sketch of an Inquiry Center Learning and Support System” for those with the ambition to lead efforts to work smarter, not harder, firmly against the grain of ‘organizations as usual’…”

-- Bill Bellows, Ph.D.,

President, InThinking Services

Adjunct Professor, California State University, Northridge and Southern Utah University

Advisory Council Member and Former Deputy Director, The W. Edwards Deming Institute®

“In his ‘last book’, Vince weaves the experiences and learning of a lifetime into whole cloth of insight and wisdom. He helps us to find relevant information from a rapidly changing world and apply it to making good decisions. This is a masterpiece of knowledge presented in a very entertaining way.”

-- Carl Spetzler

Chairman, Strategic Decisions Group International LLC

 

“This is a truly inspiring and mind changing book directly relevant for our times… Vince has shown through his remarkable work that business and government are a force for good when leaders think long term, work with, not against nature, and use their influence and resources for the many, not the few…”

-- Osvald Bjelland

Founder and President, Xynteo

Founder, The Performance Theatre Foundation

Vincent Barabba is the Co-founder and Chairman Market Insight Corporation (Scottsdale, AZ, USA) which created MyProductAdvisor.com --- a consumer-facing web site designed to provide shoppers with unbiased customized automotive product recommendations. He retired in 2003 as the General Manager of Corporate Strategy and Knowledge Development at the General Motors Corporation where he played a critical role in the development of OnStar. He was a member of the first California Citizens Redistricting Commission, he twice served as Director of the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and was President of the American Statistical Association, and was inducted into the Market Research Council Hall of Fame.

He is the co-author of Wise Decision Making (2017 Amazon Books), Business Strategies for a Messy World (2013 Palgrave Macmillan), Hearing the Voice of the Market (1991 Harvard Business School Press), and The 1980 Census: Policy Making Amid Turbulence (1983 Lexington Books). Mr. Barabba also authored The Decision Loom (2011 Triarchy Press), Surviving Transformation (2004 Oxford University Press) and Meeting of the Minds (1995 Harvard Business School Press).