EP11 Dave Snowden and Systems Thinking



Dave Snowden is Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge. His work is international in nature and covers government and industry looking at complex issues relating to strategy and organizational decision-making. He has pioneered a science-based approach to organizations drawing on anthropology, neuroscience, and complex adaptive systems theory. He is a popular and passionate keynote speaker on a range of subjects, and is well-known for his pragmatic cynicism and iconoclastic style.

Dave holds visiting Chairs at the Universities of Pretoria and Hong Kong Polytechnic University as well as a visiting fellowship at the University of Warwick. He is a senior fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies at Nanyang University and the Civil Service College in Singapore.

  1. Introduction to Dave Snowden and Cynefin 13 minutes
  2. Complicated vs. Complex + Apex Predator Theory 14 minutes
  3. Agent-Based Modeling + “Anticipatory Triggers” 9 minutes
  4. Artificial Intelligence + Chomsky Bashing 9 minutes
  5. Practical Applications for Managers 9 minutes
  6. Downward Causality + Red Team 6 minutes
  7. SenseMaker Software 6 minutes
  8. Mapping the Present 8 minutes

Transcripts for The Jim Rutt Show featuring Dave Snowden

Keynames this Episode:
Jim Rutt, Dave Snowden, Santa Fe Institute, SFI, Cognitive Edge, Cynefin, SenseMaker, University of Pretoria, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Warwick, IBM, DARPA, Harvard Business Review, HBR, Stuart Koffman, Walter Freeman, Ralph Stacey, Luis Lobo-Guerrero, David Chandler, René Thom, Clayton Christensen, Extinction Rebellion, Thomson-Reuters, Murray Gell-Man, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Vilfredo Pareto, Nassim Taleb, David Wolpert, Gary Marcus, Ben Goertzel, Josh Tenenbaum, Ogletree Deakins, Noam Chomsky, Jacques Lacan, Ayn Rand, “Nudge”, “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, Daniel Kahneman, Baxter, VECO, Rikolto, Myers-Briggs, Andy Clark

Keywords this Episode:
Jim Rutt, Dave Snowden, audio, podcast, interview, decision-making, strategy, design, knowledge management, business management, process engineering, management science, complexity, cognitive neuroscience, order, chaos, disorder, constrained, enabling constraints, competence induced failure, symbiosis, populism, Ebola, contagion, Apex Predator, global warming, Hong Kong protests, China strategy, coevolutionary fitness landscapes, agent-based model, simulation, correlation, causation, downward causality, Gaussian distribution, Pareto distribution, artificial intelligence, AI, general artificial intelligence, AGI, symbolic AI, deep learning, anticipatory triggers, counterterrorism, 9/11, No Free Lunch Theorem, Alpha Go, abstraction, epigenetics, intelligence, autism, evolutionary biology, philosophy of mind, behavioral economics, diversity, dissent, red team, narrative, business scan, employee survey, employee evaluation, employee review, assessments, 360-degree assessments, cultural evolution, agile development, Six Sigma, astrology