# A Lack of Systemic Synergies By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-05-17 Organizations operate within large, complex, and open systems. Typically, the goal of the organization is to change or leverage the system to achieve an outcome they deem favorable. All around us, millions of organizations exist toward this end. Some are more successful than others. Often this is just [[luck]] and timing like a surfer catching the perfect wave. They just happen to get out in the ocean in the right spot at the right time with a surfboard. All they had to do was point it in the right direction and stand up. The wave (e.g. the system) effortlessly carried them to shore in a gravity-defying illusion. Organizations often miss this point of the system they exist within. Instead of positioning themselves within the system to leverage it or subtly change it, they attempt to defy the system. They try to speed up time or build a wave machine to mimic oceanic tides. It might be reasonable in short bursts, but often the economic system comes shortly thereafter to consume the organization as a non-value-added activity. Organizations have lost their understanding of nature and systems. They see so many grand changes that have occurred that they think changing nature and the system to their will is easy. Well, maybe you are just observing the lucky surfer or an effort that took thousands of years of chipping away at the rock. Within a product business, some people might call this product-market fit - it extends beyond this. It involves understanding the nature of time, the flow of the system, and having a purpose that synthesizes with the system. #### Related Items [[Organization]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Systems Thinking]] [[Thinking]] [[Understanding]] [[Business]] [[Time]] [[Purpose]]