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The immediate challenge with a system map is that people balk at the first impression. But a system map is far easier to understand and use than a statistical or linear model. Because the latter is a distortion: it’s a simple, clean model, but it represents a version of the world that nobody is familiar with and everyone has to “learn” as an alternative to what they already know.
A causal map in contrast represents the relationships and influences we already see and recognize, even as small children (11). It doesn’t create an alternative narrative, it visualizes our own narrative. Once we learn how to read it, understanding it, sharing it, and collaborating on it becomes natural.
Ps. if you want to make your own system map this is the simplest place to start.
Now Imagine!
Which of these three maps best captures and represents the true environment our offering operates in?
And if we wanted to use a map to identify our best opportunities to have influence, which map would we choose?
Winning is not about making better decisions than everybody else, it’s routed in our ability to see what nobody else sees.
Our decisions follow our insights, not the other way around.
Using the same methodology, models, and simplifications as everyone else sets us up for expensive failure from the start. It narrows our opportunities, removes our unique competencies, and puts us in a competitive space where we are not competing based on our strengths but on universal commodities (hygiene factors) like price or efficiency.
We win by the quality and strength or our strategies, planning and execution. But it’s all rooted in our ability to see (14). Having a map of the world nobody else has helps us see opportunities nobody else does and the possibility to coordinate and compete based on our own unique expertise and strengths.
Having the right map is the springboard to the rest of what we do to win (2).
Sources / further reading:
(1). Gary Hamel, source unkown, https://www.garyhamel.com/
(2). Simon Wardley, ‘Situation Normal, Everything Must Change’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty6pOVEc3bA
(3). IBM C-Suite Study, IBM Study: C-suite Leaders Look to Customers to Steer Business Strategy, https://www.ibm.com/blogs/think/nl-en/2013/10/07/ibm-study-c-suite-leaders-look-to-customers-to-steer-business-strategy/
(4). AIDA-Model, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDA_(marketing)
(5). Helge Tennø, Customer as Competitive Advantage, https://uxdesign.cc/customer-as-competitive-advantage-19a6ede62852
(6). David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad, Can you say what your strategy is, https://hbr.org/2008/04/can-you-say-what-your-strategy-is
(7). David Ogilvy, behance, https://www.behance.net/gallery/1625743/If-You-Have-Nothing-To-Say-Sing-It
(8). Mark Lipton, Walking the talk (really!): why visions fail, https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/walking-the-talk-really-why-visions-fail/
(9). Based on conversations with the CustomerC-community in Norway, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helgetenno_customerexperience-customer-business-activity-7276133041905766400-n7EW/
(10). HBR Faculty, Causal Diagrams: Draw Your Assumptions Before Your Conclusions, https://www.harvardonline.harvard.edu/course/causal-diagrams-draw-your-assumptions-your-conclusions
(11). Judea Pearl and writer Dana Mackenzie, The book of why, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Why
(12). Donatella Meadows, Dancing with Systems, https://donellameadows.org/archives/dancing-with-systems/
(13). Clayton Christensen, unkonwn reference, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Christensen
(14). Christian Madsbjerg, Look, https://madsbjerg.com/
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