ABOUT
FROM COMPLEXITY
TO
ACTION:
SYSTEMS
MAPPING IN
AFGHANISTAN
For decades, organizations have sought better ways to navigate complexity— yet many leadership challenges cannot be solved through linear thinking
alone.
Across government, business, healthcare, education, and national security, leaders operate in environments shaped by interconnected systems, competing objectives, delayed consequences, and human behavior. Decisions made in one area often create unexpected effects elsewhere, making outcomes hard to predict and effective interventions hard to find.
Drawing from military operations, organizational transformation initiatives, and enterprise leadership, this session explores how systems thinking provides a practical framework for understanding complex environments and making better decisions under uncertainty. Participants will examine how leaders can identify system structures, understand feedback dynamics, recognize emerging patterns,
and adapt as conditions change.
EVENT FEATURES
Systems Thinking in Practice
Join retired U.S. Army Colonel and organizational systems strategist Greg Boylan for a discussion on how systems thinking has been applied across military operations, institutional leadership, and large-scale organizational transformation.
Drawing on more than three decades of leadership experience, Greg shares practical examples from Afghanistan, Iraq, West Point, and enterprise-scale change initiatives—demonstrating how leaders can make complex systems visible, identify the structures driving behavior, and make better decisions amid uncertainty and constant change.
Participants will explore how feedback loops, delays, competing objectives, and human behavior shape outcomes, and how systems thinking can be used to improve organizational learning, strategic planning, and adaptive leadership.
Learning Objective
Understand how systems thinking helps leaders navigate complexity, uncertainty, and change by revealing the structures, relationships, and feedback dynamics that shape organizational outcomes.
This session explores how leaders can move beyond isolated events and symptoms to understand the underlying systems driving behavior. Participants will examine how feedback loops, delays, competing objectives, and human interactions influence decision-making—and how a systems perspective can improve leadership effectiveness in complex environments.
Action Learning
Explore how systems thinking can be used to diagnose challenges, identify leverage points, and improve decision-making in organizations and institutions.
Participants will examine real-world examples from military operations, strategic planning, and organizational transformation to see how leaders can make systems visible, understand dynamic relationships, and respond more effectively to change. The session will introduce practical approaches for recognizing patterns, evaluating unintended consequences, and designing interventions that support learning, adaptation, and long-term success.
SUPPORTERS
THE VENUE
This is an online event.