Many recent studies prove the importance of mindsets. Add the latest research from the science of neuroplasticity on the brain's ability to reshape itself, and you would think everybody would be working on restructuring their minds every day.

Many of us consider Thomas Edison's development of the incandescent lightbulb as the breakthrough achievement in electric lighting. But without an infrastructure for delivering electricity and a plan for taking it to scale, the lightbulb might have remained a novelty.

In this Issue:

- Are You Ready to Unlock Your Organization's Potential?
- Visual Teams: Graphic Tools for Creating and Sustaining High Performance
- 10 Reasons to Attend the Systems Thinking in Action Conference
- The Most Important Climate Challenge Is Our Thinking

Do you ever wish you could plug directly into someone else's thoughts or feelings and vice versa? In this issue, Charlotte Roberts, co-author of The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook and The Dance of Change and keynote at the Systems Thinking in Action Conference in the fall, acknowledges that while such means of communication remain in the realm of science fiction, there are simple tools that can help us build shared mental models about critical issues. You can also see a newly released preview of her conference presentation.

The summer weather has finally arrived in the Boston area, but our thoughts are on the fall--in particular our 21st annual Systems Thinking in Action Conference October 31-November 2. We continue to update our conference website with program descriptions, information on pre-and post-conference workshops, and details of our exciting raffle! Be sure to check back often.

Even as the school year draws to a close in our local area, bright people around the globe continue the important work of designing new strategies to educate tomorrow's citizens. In this issue, we look at Quest to Learn, a school that uses video-game principles to engage learners and help them become active problem solvers. "From the Blog" features an innovative school district that teaches systems thinking tools to kids. Be sure to watch the clip of first-graders using causal loop diagrams to solve a playground conflict--it will give you hope for the future!

We all hold unconscious assumptions about our world--it's part of how the human brain operates. The downside is that, unless we question them from time to time, our mental models can prevent us from learning. In this issue, Seth Kahan looks at the power of imagination for breaking free from the assumptions trap.

Last year, the Pegasus staff participated in a visioning exercise that involved using items from our offices to create models of the organization when it's working at its highest potential. The process generated much laughter and resulted in some important "ahas." In the feature article below, master trainer Per Kristiansen describes the theory behind and benefits of this kind of "serious play."

Do performance incentives work? Daniel Pink shined a spotlight on this question in his best-selling book Drive and in a popular TED talk on the science of motivation. In a recent article in The Systems Thinker newsletter, acclaimed quality improvement expert Gipsie Ranney shared her perspective on this ever-important topic.

At the 2010 Systems Thinking in Action Conference, one of the sessions that generated the most interest focused on Polarity Management. In this issue, we share an article that gives tips on how to manage opposing values in your organization. Also look for our upcoming webinar on the same topic.

With the midterm elections fast approaching here in the U.S., much of the discourse in the media and around the watercooler has centered on the question of leadership. How have our leaders been performing? Who will best lead us through the next couple of years? In this month's feature article, Joe Raelin turns these questions on their head and offers a model in which we all learn to lead together.

Just today, a participant from last year's Systems Thinking in Action Conference sent us a tweet that read, "I have honestly never been to a more relevant and worthwhile conference, both professionally and personally, than Pegasus." Wow, that's a tough act to follow. But with the stellar line-up of speakers we've assembled for this year's event, how could we go wrong? In this month's issue, we introduce the groundbreaking work of keynote presenter Dayna Baumeister on "biomimicry," the process of designing sustainable products, processes, and policies by emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies.

Barry Richmond was a pioneer in the field of systems thinking and system dynamics, an early supporter of Pegasus, and a friend to many in our community. This month, we are pleased to feature an excerpt from Tracing Connections, a new book published by isee systems and the Creative Learning Exchange as a tribute to Barry and his efforts to shed new light on some of our world's darkest challenges.

Happy New Year!

Call for Proposals
We are pleased to invite your proposals for the 20th Anniversary Pegasus Conference: Systems Thinking in Action: Fueling New Cycles of Success. If you are interested in presenting a concurrent session during the conference November 8-10, at the Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts, please review the Call for Proposals, and submit your preliminary proposal by FEBRUARY 12.

With the passing of Russell Ackoff last month, the systems thinking world lost not only a great thinker, but a communicator who was able to go straight to the heart of organizational challenges with clarity and good humor. There was nothing he enjoyed more than having a little fun at the expense of management orthodoxy: "Since mistakes are a no-no in most corporations, and the only mistakes identified and measured are ones involving doing something that should not have been done, the best strategy for managers is to do as little as possible. No wonder managerial paralysis prevails in American organizations." In the article below, you'll enjoy hearing Russell's own reflections on the role he played in advancing the field of systems thinking.

September is one of the months in which Massachusetts really shines. A crisp nip in the air accompanied by bright sun and blue skies send us "back to school" with new energy for creating better workplaces. Our recently-launched webinar series is one initiative that's generating that kind of energy for us. We have gotten great feedback on our first couple of sessions and we are looking forward to partnering with you to keep building this channel in the way that best meets your needs.

In their book, The Elements of Persuasion, Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman wrote, "The typical middle-level corporate executive, the sort of decision maker many of us are trying to persuade, gets an average of 250 e-mails a day. So many e-mails that people are canceling their vacations because the thought of trying to catch up on all of that when they get back after a week in the sun is almost too much to bear."

To cut through the clutter and be heard, your story must be memorable and it must stand out; your success depends upon it. That's why we're delighted to host Bob Dickman in an interactive webinar designed to help you communicate more effectively.

Have you subscribed to our new Leverage Points blog yet? We're excited about making it easier for you to engage with us and with each other around the practical aspects of systems thinking and organizational learning. How can we apply these tools and perspectives to make good choices and take smart, informed action? What can we learn from a systems take on current events? Some of our readers have already begun to contribute to the conversation. We hope you'll subscribe to the blog and join them soon.

Futurist Alvin Toffler described future shock as "the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time." Surely, these past few months of economic chaos qualify as a future shock moment, and call for measures to help us cope with being overwhelmed. In this month's newsletter we offer some strategies for finding your center and for maintaining a learner's stance even in the most challenging circumstances.

Just as the U.S. Congress has finalized its economic recovery package, we at Pegasus are marking the beginning of our 20th year with a stimulus plan of our own--and we promise it won't cost you $700 billion!

As another year winds to a close, we would like to express our gratitude to all of you readers, learners, and conference participants who continue to help us pursue our mission of advancing the use of systems thinking in organizational and community life.

As Election Day approaches here in the U.S., many have grown tired of the deepening schisms that seem to separate us as we go through the messy process of choosing a new president. Nevertheless, we know that on November 5 we will climb out of our separate trenches, dust ourselves off, and converge on ways to tackle the problems we face as a people. We'll do so because we must in order to make a difference.

Are competition and cooperation at play in your work environment? The Olympic Games are a great example of how dynamic forces balance and reinforce each other in large systems. At the same time that national pride pushes countries to compete aggressively from sport to sport, so too is a spirit of cooperation in evidence as individual athletes demonstrate sportsmanship and countries agree on standards regarding everything from scoring practices to drug testing. When you look around you at work, can you determine who's winning the medals? Can you identify who champions the importance of working together?

Our hearts go out to the people of China and Myanmar as they come to terms with their losses and begin to rebuild. At a time when many of us in the Pegasus office are preoccupied with happy new beginnings in the form of gardens, weddings, and commencement ceremonies, we are ever mindful of our interdependence with our faraway neighbors. Pegasus has made a donation to relief efforts in both regions.

We are pleased to invite your proposals for the 2008 Pegasus Conference: Synergy at Work: Gathering Momentum for Meaningful Performance. If you are interested in presenting a concurrent session during the conference November 17-19, at the Sheraton Boston in Boston, Massachusetts, please review the Call for Proposals, and submit your proposal by February 8.

What kinds of resolutions are running around in your head as one year comes to a close and another approaches? If you're resolved to start with yourself when it comes to creating the changes you most want to see, you may find these stories and resources helpful.

In reflecting with gratitude on the success of our recent conference, our aspirations have quickly shifted toward 2008 and the possibility of building on the phenomenal energy generated in Seattle. Not only was this the largest conference in recent memory, but the level of engagement we observed was virtually unprecedented. We've collected below some links for continuing the conversation. Even if you were not able to be with us in Seattle, we invite you to follow some of the threads spinning out from this extraordinary event.

I hope that you have come to view Leverage Points as a gentle but persistent reminder to adopt a systemic perspective in your encounters with everyday challenges. This month, we invite you to consider how systems thinking can help you find new angles on your most vexing problems--whether it's discovering the employment opportunities posed by climate change or uncovering a win-win opportunity masked by escalating competition.

It has been two years since Hurricane Katrina tore into the Gulf Coast shocking us all with a sense of vulnerability and dismay. Now, as the slow process of recovery continues, the storm's most enduring legacy may lie in the lessons it has to teach us about leadership. With its success stories grounded in courage and personal responsibility, Katrina calls us to appreciate the value of action learning and leading, not just in the face of disaster, but in response to the accelerating complexities of every facet of our lives.

Peter Senge has commented that we are all natural systems thinkers until we go to school and have it drummed out of us. If this is true, it presents those of us who believe in the power of holistic thinking with two imperatives. First, we need to put systems awareness back into our teaching so that students are supported in their natural learning impulses. Second, we need to continue to find ways to recapture our own natural ability to think systemically, through regular exploration and practice. This month, you'll meet a pioneering educator and learn about a number of opportunities to build your skills and reinforce your systems thinking capacity.

With summer upon us here in Massachusetts, we relish the slower pace and longer days that give us a little extra time for reflection. It's a good time to remind ourselves that slowing down and stepping back are not activities that should be confined to the summer months, but are essential systems thinking habits to cultivate year round.

We have been watching with interest the connections that friends of Pegasus have been making between systems thinking and the latest advances in brain science. One great example is the work of Elaine Johnson of Marylhurst University, who will be presenting a forum session entitled "How Relationships Shape Our Brains--and Our Organizations" at the Pegasus Conference in Seattle in November.

When new theories emerge that advance our capacity to adapt to change, we are reminded of both the continuous nature of learning and the importance of having a sound foundation on which to build. This month we bring you a taste of leading from the future, along with an opportunity to expand your collection of recordings from groundbreaking systems thinkers.

Our hearts are with all those who were affected by the shootings at Virginia Tech this week. This kind of crisis shakes our basic assumptions about human nature and reminds us about the prevalence of violence in so many corners of the world today. At the same time, we marvel at the waves of coordinated action and the outpouring of compassion it has touched off--along with the collective resolve to never let a senseless tragedy like this happen again.

We are pleased to introduce a new look for Leverage Points this month! Knowing that there is nothing more valuable to you than your time, we have converted to a simpler layout that we hope will make it easier for you to go right to the content that interests you most. As we try to support your continued growth as a systems thinker, we welcome your feedback about Leverage Points and about Pegasus Communications.

We are pleased to invite your proposals for the 2007 Pegasus Conference: Amplifying Our Impact: Strategies for Unleashing the Power of Relationship. If you are interested in presenting a concurrent session during the conference November 5-7, at the Westin Seattle in Seattle, Washington, please review the Call for Proposals, and submit your proposal by February 12.

Just when you start to wonder whether there's anyone else out there who thinks the way you do, along comes Leverage Points to remind you that you're part of a thriving community! This month you'll learn about Debra Meyerson's research on tempered radicals and have the opportunity to bolster your own radical change agenda by updating your Systems Thinker library and planning your Pegasus Conference participation.