Behavior Management Systems

In the years following her role as the lead author of the international best seller, Limits to Growth - the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet - Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem-solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute's Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world....

Donors, leaders of nonprofits, and public policy makers usually have the best of intentions to serve society and improve social conditions. But often their solutions fall far short of what they want to accomplish and what is truly needed. Moreover, the answers they propose and fund often produce the opposite of what they want over time. We end up with temporary shelters that increase homelessness, drug busts that increase drug-related crime, or food aid that increases starvation.

A decade ago, developers built information-sharing software by writing a lot of custom code in a single code base, then adding layers of caching. Now we build information systems: interdependent software and services, data platforms, and event streams. Many of our software-to-systems initiatives fail, though, and when they do, we double down on traditional linear approaches. But linear thinking cannot resolve systems challenges. We need to shift to systems thinking.

Unlock the secrets of raising a happy, empowered child with autism, even if you’ve felt overwhelmed and uncertain for years. Are you exhausted from sifting through loads of information only to find generic advice that doesn’t address your child's unique needs? Do you find yourself dreading IEP meetings, unsure how to advocate effectively for your child? Struggling to manage sensory overloads and meltdowns in public while feeling the weight of judgmental stares?

Company culture influences the roles and responsibilities of every employee within the organization, from executive leadership down to the front lines. A strong, healthy company culture drives productivity and raises profitability, and disengaged employees cost companies billions, yet many executives rarely associate their culture with their bottom line. Today, employee engagement stakes are higher than ever because executives have to consider the impact their company culture has on external stakeholders as well.

Humanism is a philosophy that centers on acknowledging the dignity of your fellow humans. It is a recognition that our behavior impacts others. We don’t live in a vacuum. When we are in a leadership position, we have even more responsibility to do good, not just for ourselves, but for our team as well. Humanistic management or leadership is a philosophical approach that is at once: Compassionate, ethical, responsible, reasonable, and strategic. To be an effective, ethical leader requires a variety of different interrelated skills.

A lot of conflicts in the workplace are either misunderstandings or miscommunications. These go unresolved, fester, and start to interfere with the work that needs to be done because of lack of trust and interpersonal anger. To help fix these problems, this audiobook will discuss how to re-humanize the people you are having communication problems with so that you can fix the problem ethically, effectively, and compassionately. The goal is for both of you to feel good about the relationship again.