The Systemic Insight podcast

Marcus Jenal and Shawn Cunningham•systemic-insight.com

The Systemic Insight podcast series is about the field of economic development, and how it is challenged by thinking from the fields of systems theories and complexity

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Episodes

Chris Corrigan: in our most creative moments, we feel invited into working together

In this episode of the Systemic Insight Podcast, Marcus talks with Chris Corrigan. Chris is a facilitator and an expert in complexity-sensitive facilitation techniques. He has been using similar methods and frameworks as Mesopartner, such as for example the Cynefin framework, developed by Prof. Dave Snowden. Chris describes himself as a process artist, a teacher and a facilitator of social technologies for face to face conversation in the service of emergence. His business is supporting invitati...

Jun 29, 2020•1 hr 28 min

Dr Toby Lowe #2: responding to Covid-19 with human learning systems

Marcus is welcoming back Dr Toby Lowe to the show! The Covid-19 crisis has hit the world and so many things have changed in the short time since we talked to Toby last. Particularly, ideas on complexity and systems thinking have suddenly gained a lot of traction as people realise that the world is indeed an uncertain place and the certainty that we imagined to be in, pre-crisis, was not to last forever. Marcus discusses with Toby how this plays out in the world of social interventions, which has...

Apr 28, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 8

Dr Toby Lowe: why outcome-based performance management doesn’t work

In this episode, Marcus is talking to Dr Toby Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership and Management at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. Toby describes his purpose as an academic as helping improve the funding, commissioning and performance management of social interventions (across the public, private and voluntary sectors). His research team has used complexity theory to create a critique of New Public Management approaches, particularly highlighting the problems created b...

Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 7

On Competitiveness

In this episode, Shawn and Marcus discuss the concept of competitiveness. The chat was inspired by some reading Marcus had been doing that condemned competition to be part of the driving force that makes our society so extractive and unequal. In particular, Marcus is using two quotes from Daniel Wahl’s book ‘Designing Regenerative Cultures’ to exemplify the argument. To contrast this viewpoint, Shawn and Marcus explore the positive aspects of competition and why competitiveness and in particular...

Dec 04, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 6

An interview with Kristin O’ Planick about market systems resilience

In this Podcast, Marcus Jenal interviews Kristin O’Planick from USAID’s Bureau for Food Security about the agency’s recent work on market systems resilience. Kristin is part of a team that has been developing a new framework to capture market system resilience, which is currently going through early field testing. The framework builds on similar ideas as Mesopartner has been using on its work on resilience. For more information on our work on managing economic complexity and change, visit www.sy...

Jun 11, 2019•19 min•Season 1Ep. 5

An interview with Jeanne Downing

Jeanne Downing, Senior Enterprise Development Advisor, Office of Microenterprise Development, USAID talks about the discussions she and her colleagues have within USAID about the necessity of using a systemic approach in development. She mentions the need to switch away from linear approaches towards approaches that are better able to capture the complexities of real world phenomena, especially when taking into account the new focus on resilience, which puts a further layer of complexity on the ...

Mar 11, 2013•23 min•Season 1Ep. 4

An interview with Dave Snowden

In this episode, Marcus Jenal interviews Dave Snowden. The podcast explores the recognition that development takes place in a dynamic, complex system and the resulting consequences for monitoring and evaluation frameworks. Current monitoring and evaluation frameworks are built around predefined outcomes and based on assumptions of causal, linear, and attributable connections between a project's activities and changes at its outcome and impact levels. Based on complex systems research, these assu...

Feb 27, 2013•20 min•Season 1Ep. 3

An interview with Shamim Bodhanya about the characteristics of complex adaptive systems

In this episode, Marcus interviews Dr Shamim Bodhanya. The podcast explores the origins of complex adaptive systems research and the application of its findings to development work. Bodhanya explains the characteristics of complex adaptive systems and their consequences in social systems such as the economy. He stresses the need to include multiple perspectives to develop a systemic view of markets and allow for solutions from within the system to involve rather than prescribe top-down solutions...

Feb 10, 2013•19 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Systemic Insight Episode 1

In this first episode, Marcus and Shawn introduce the podcast series. Some of the key issues of economic development from a systems perspective are discussed. For more information on our work on managing economic complexity and change, visit www.systemic-insight.com . This podcast is brought to you by mesopartner.com

Feb 03, 2013•15 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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