#077 Alex Komoroske: Systems Thinking, Builders vs Gardeners, and Working In Large Organizations

Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:03:52) - The Gardener of Systems
(00:07:43) - Builders vs. Gardeners
(00:11:09) - Who are the best farmers of miracles?
(00:16:52) - How did you become a “systems” person?
(00:23:45) - What does Systems Thinking look like for you?
(00:53:09) - Alex’s Slime Mold deck
(00:55:12) - The iterative, adjacent possible
(00:59:53) - Alex’s experience at Google
(01:03:12) - AI uses and potentials
(01:17:54) - Book recommendations

Links:
Alex’s website (komoroske.com)
Alex on X (x.com/komorama)
Alex on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/alex-komoroske-6597336)
Emergence by Steven Johnson (amazon.com/Emergence-Connected-Brains-Cities-S…)
The Systems Bible by John Gall (amazon.com/SYSTEMANTICS-SYSTEMS-BIBLE-John-Gal…)
The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker (amazon.com/Origin-Wealth-Remaking-Economics-Bu…)

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Important quotes from Alex Komoroske:

"I think that to really wrestle with systems you have to let go and just dance with the system."
— Alex Komoroske

"I like the word gardening because it underlines that you are not in control of this system. You are influencing it."
— Alex Komoroske

"The builder gets immediately to work, but the gardener understands that other things can be alive."
— Alex Komoroske

"Technology should be about helping people create and use hand-tuned tools to extend their agency in collaborative ways."
— Alex Komoroske

"If people who are very unlike each other all find it interesting or intriguing, that's a good sign that it will spread out to be a very large audience."
— Alex Komoroske