Tag Archives: Thomas Kuhn

How to change, or transcend, paradigms

Thinking in SystemsAt the time, I had already been following the writings of My recent post about Donnella Meadows books being on sale in January prompted me to re-read her essay, Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System.   In the essay she explains in ascending order of effectiveness the ways to effect change in a system.  I was particularly by her number 2 suggestion: The mindset or paradigm out of which the system arises.  I had to read the following paragraph from that section aloud to the Duchess:

So how do you change paradigms? Thomas Kuhn, who wrote the seminal book about the great paradigm shifts of science, has a lot to say about that.  In a nutshell, you keep pointing out the anomalies and failures in the old paradigm, you keep speaking louder and with assurance from the new one, you insert people with the new paradigm in places of public visibility and power.  You don’t waste time with reactionaries; rather you work with change agents and with the vast middle ground of people who are open-minded.  Continue reading How to change, or transcend, paradigms