Systems Thinking: A Defining Skill for Leadership | Willy Donaldson | TEDxCNU

System thinking, identified by the World Economic Forum as a critical skill, involves understanding the interconnectedness of elements within systems to grasp characteristic behaviors. The speaker defines a system as elements coherently organized, using examples ranging from a university to the solar system, and even the human body at a microscopic level. Everything can be viewed as a system because of the distinctions we make, acknowledging both identity and "other." This perspective highlights the importance of "both/and" thinking, where individual perspectives and actions are balanced with the understanding of the whole system and its potential reactions. The speaker references hermeneutics, bounded rationality, and the tragedy of the commons to emphasize the need to consider the entire system rather than optimizing solely for individual interests, echoing the African philosophy of Ubuntu: "I am because we are."