Russell L. Ackoff Quotes

• Successful problem solving requires finding the right solution to the right problem. We fail more often because we solve the wrong problem than because we get the wrong solution to the right problem.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Successful, Risk, Management

  "Redesigning the Future: a Systems Approach to Societal Problems". Book by Russell L. Ackoff, p. 8, 1974.

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• The more efficient you are at doing the wrong thing, the wronger you become. It is much better to do the right thing wronger than the wrong thing righter. If you do the right thing wrong and correct it, you get better.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Get Better, Efficiency, Wrong Things

  80 Copy quote

• To manage a system effectively, you might focus on the interactions of the parts rather than their behavior taken separately.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Leadership, Integrity, Taken

  "On purposeful systems (1972)". "Thinking about Quality: Progress, Wisdom, and the Deming Philosophy". Book by Clare Crawford-Mason and Lloyd Dobyns, p. 40, 1994.

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• No problem stays solved in a dynamic environment.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Problem, Environment, No Problem

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• Managers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes. Problems are extracted from messes by analysis. Managers do not solve problems, they manage messes.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Independent, Risk, Analysis

  "Thinking in Systems: a Primer" by Donella Meadows, (p. 1), 2008.

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• It is far better to do the right thing wrong than to do the wrong thing right.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Risk, Management, Wrong Things

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

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Want, Settling, Know How

  Russell L. Ackoff (2006). “A Little Book of F-Laws”, p.4, Triarchy Press Limited

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• 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.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Thinking, Understanding, Doe

  54 Copy quote

• A problem never exists in isolation; it is surrounded by other problems in space and time. The more of the context of a problem that a scientist can comprehend, the greater are his chances of finding a truly adequate solution.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Space, Risk, Adequate

  "The Development of Operations Research as a Science". Operations Research, Volume 4, No. 3, pp. 265-295, www.jstor.org. June 1956.

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• Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. It incorrectly assumes that for every ounce of teaching there is an ounce of learning by those who are taught. However, most of what we learn before, during, and after attending schools is learned without its being taught to us. A child learns such fundamental things as how to walk, talk, eat, dress, and so on without being taught these things. Adults learn most of what they use at work or at leisure while at work or leisure. Most of what is taught in classroom settings is forgotten, and much or what is remembered is irrelevant.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Children, Teaching, School

  Russell L. Ackoff, Daniel Greenberg (2008). “Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track”, p.3, Pearson Prentice Hall

  58 Copy quote

• Creativity is the ability to identify self-imposed constraints, remove them, and explore the consequences of their removal.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Creativity, Self, Chaos

  Russell L. Ackoff (1986). “Management in Small Doses”, Wiley

  41 Copy quote

• We can only learn from mistakes, by identifying them, determining their source, and correcting them... people learn more from their own mistakes than from the successes of others.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Mistake, People, Success Of Others

  Russell L. Ackoff, Daniel Greenberg (2008). “Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track”, p.176, Pearson Prentice Hall

  63 Copy quote

• Every problem interacts with other problems and is therefore part of a set of interrelated problems, a system of problems. I choose to call such a system a mess.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Problem, Mess

  "Redesigning the Future: a Systems Approach to Societal Problems". Book by Russell L. Ackoff, p. 21, 1974.

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• 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.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Higher, Fewer, Knows

  Russell L. Ackoff (2006). “A Little Book of F-Laws”, p.2, Triarchy Press Limited

  29 Copy quote

• The future is better dealt with using assumptions than forecasts.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Assumption, Forecasts

  25 Copy quote

• 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.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Business, Opportunity, Errors

  15 Copy quote

• A bureaucrat is one who has the power to say "no" but none to say "yes."

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Bureaucrats

  Russell L. Ackoff (2006). “A Little Book of F-Laws”, p.12, Triarchy Press Limited

  4 Copy quote

• The objective of education is learning, not teaching

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Teaching, Objectives

  Russell L. Ackoff, Daniel Greenberg (2008). “Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track”, p.5, Pearson Prentice Hall

  17 Copy quote

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

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Support, Prejudice, Facts

  "The Art of Problem Solving: Accompanied by Ackoff's Fables". Book by Russell L. Ackoff, 1978.

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• Most corporate mission statements are worthless. They consist largely of pious platitudes such as: "We will hold ourselves to the highest standards of professionalism and ethical behavior." They often formulate necessities as objectives; for example, "to achieve sufficient profit." This is like a person saying his mission is to breathe sufficiently.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Risk, Example, Management

  Russell L. Ackoff (1986). “Management in Small Doses”, Wiley

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• The most valuable and least replacable resource is time.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Resources, Valuable

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

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Worry, Hell, Go To Hell

  22 Copy quote

• 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.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Art, Creative, Inspire

  47 Copy quote

• Common sense … has the very curious property of being more correct retrospectively than prospectively. It seems to me that one of the principal criteria to be applied to successful science is that its results are almost always obvious retrospectively; unfortunately, they seldom are prospectively. Common sense provides a kind of ultimate validation after science has completed its work; it seldom anticipates what science is going to discover.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Successful, Validation, Common Sense

  31 Copy quote

• For me there has never been an amount of money that makes it worth doing something that is not fun.

  Russell L. Ackoff

  Fun, Amount

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