Business Model On A Barf Bag

It is sometimes funny how one can be hit by inspiration. And to feel this specific urge to get ones thoughts out of the brain. The following sketch happened on my recent flight to Finland. I took a barf bag (this piece of paper was the easiest to get), and I asked my mother for a pen.

Everything came out in a 10 minute session.

Of course this one does not represent the current state of planning or development of the next venture, but this reminds me on very new born babies: They actually look also not too sweet in the beginning. 😉

And somehow is the narrative of a Business Model On A Barf Bag very poetic – at least for me.

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The Viable System – a German version of the classic scheme

Since I “discovered” the VSM I can not stop thinking about the model and its implications. I will try to transduce the free schematics of Stafford Beer into the German language. It is really a pity (and an opportunity) that these insights are everything but well known in Germany. So I will help to spread this knowledge in my socio-cultural space. The point: Stop whining. Start finding. Open up for relativity. Find closures and put the pieces together, rather than trying to differentiate parts which are inherently connected to each other.

And most importantly: Do not expect to change a system by using the old tools and methods which have not worked out before. You will get the same results – temporal relief, but not an essential NEW (re-)solution of the “problem”. Actually it is about dissolving problems – and not about solving them. But it is likely not to be rewarded for that. It’s “post heroic” management. It’s about the model.

We are slaves to our epistemological imprints. If we are not aware of the long term effects of this historic development – how deeply it is integrated in our value system – then we will not be able to understand the impact of the implementation of the new model.

I think we have a choice: Do we want to be proud of our hierarchical hunter-and-gatherer structures and stay in this mess, or do we use a new way to understand the “physics” of control? Do we want to design a viable system by chance or by using the fundamental mechanics of complexity. Do we want to be intelligent?

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General mechanics of the optimization process

Even though still incomplete (and probably it will stay in an ongoing iteration process), I want to share this piece. So far it helped me to sort my thoughts. Furthermore this model might contain an answer to the question of Nick Nielsen: “What is it that makes us think?”. Hopefully I will soon make it to wrap my approach into words.

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Click to enlarge picture.