Being Better Better: Living with Systems Intelligence

The book aims to help the reader to become more aware of our astonishing skills of Systems Intelligence. It focuses on everyday systems like families, workplaces and communities. These systems are created through our thoughts, actions and connections with others. They are systems that shape our lives, but also offer the possibility of us changing them from within. We are always part of systems. We can act intelligently from within those systems.

Systems Intelligence extends the concepts of Emotional and Social Intelligence. Systems Intelligence is the innate yet learnable capacity through which we engage with the diverse systems in our lives.

The book presents the Eight Dimensions of Systems Intelligence. It looks at how we can better see and understand systems through developing our systems perception. It pushes the reader to not just see systems around them, but to realize that we can often feel systems at work via attunement. It explores how reflection reveals how systems shape our thought processes and how we can develop the way we think. It reveals the systemic effects of positive engagement with others. It shows how an attitude of spirited discovery helps improve existing systems or create new ways of doing things. It stresses the skills and preparedness required for effective responsiveness within systems. It promotes wise action that allows us to work holistically with systems, to adopt a long-term perspective when needed, and to manage destructive emotions. It underscores the importance of a positive attitude to consistently act in systems intelligent ways.

The reader can evaluate her strengths in Systems Intelligence by taking the SI-test at: www.systemsintelligence.aalto.fi/test

The concept of Systems Intelligence was introduced in 2004 by Professors Raimo P. H m l inen and Esa Saarinen of Aalto University in Helsinki.

Additional material on the concept of Systems Intelligence can be found at: www.systemsintelligence.aalto.fi

Raimo P. Hämäläinen is professor and director of the Systems Analysis Laboratory and co-director of the Systems Intelligence Research Group at Aalto University Finland, He is an internationally acknowledged scholar in systems and decision making with over 200 scientific publications. He has helped to solve complex environmental policy problems with governmental agencies including the Parliament of Finland. He has been a visiting scholar at major international universities including MIT, UCLA, UC Berkley, National University of Singapore and University of Cape Town. He has a passion for outdoor life including fishing, sailing snowboarding and backcountry skiing.

Rachel Jones received her education in New Zealand. She holds two PhDs, the first in English literature and the second in Knowledge Management. She has gained multicultural experience while working as an English language teacher and a university lecturer in Australia, Japan and New Zealand. She also spent time working for Aalto University's Systems Analysis Laboratory (Finland) as a research fellow. Currently, Rachel works freelance as a researcher and consultant. Her latest areas of interest are health and safety culture in organizations and exploring different models of retirement. She has several publications in academic journals, including in the field of Systems Intelligence. In her free time, she enjoys reading, camping and fishing.

Esa Saarinen is a Finnish philosopher, and life-philosophical lecturer, inspirational speaker, professor of applied philosophy at Aalto University and co-director of the Systems Intelligence Research Group. A national celebrity noted for his colorful media appearances and highly personal and non-academic lecturing style, Esa has helped to make philosophy a recognized part of Finnish public life. In addition to his interventions in media and in education, he has worked extensively as a coach for organizations and companies such as Nokia and Marimekko, promoting a doctrine of positive self-actualization. He is a prolific author of books who has written on a wide range of subjects including philosophical textbooks, history of western philosophy, scholarly research papers, and the volume Imagologies: Media Philosophy (1994), with Mark C. Taylor, an early discussion of the internet.