22 Quotes by Russell L. Ackoff

In systems thinking, increases in understanding are believed to be obtainable by expanding the systems to be understood, not by reducing them to their elements. Understanding proceeds from the whole to its parts, not from the parts to the whole as knowledge does.

Managers who don’t know how to measure what they want settle for wanting what they can measure.

Nothing is harder to topple than a fact that supports a deeply held prejudice denied by its holder.

Art inspires, produces an unwillingness to settle for what we have and a desire for something better. It is the product and producer of creative activity, change; it is essential for continuous development.

The lower the rank of managers, the more they know about fewer things. The higher the rank of managers, the less they know about many things.

So much time is currently spent in worrying about the future that the present is allowed to go to hell.

Errors of omission, lost opportunities, are generally more critical than errors of commission. Organizations fail or decline more frequently because of what they did not do than because of what they did.

Unless people can express themselves well in ordinary English, they don’t know what they are talking about.

The future is better dealt with using assumptions than forecasts.