System Smarts - System Design with John Ackley

David Peter Stroh, a founding partner of Bridgeway Partners (www.bridgewaypartners.com), is internationally recognized for his work in enabling leaders to apply systems thinking to achieve breakthroughs around chronic, complex problems and to develop strategies which improve system-wide performance over time. He is the author of the new book Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide for Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results...

David Peter Stroh, a founding partner of Bridgeway Partners (www.bridgewaypartners.com), is internationally recognized for his work in enabling leaders to apply systems thinking to achieve breakthroughs around chronic, complex problems and to develop strategies which improve system-wide performance over time. He is the author of the new book Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide for Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results...

Chris Brogan provides simple plans and projects for business success. He is CEO of Owner Media Group, a sought after public speaker, and the New York Times bestselling author of nine books and working on his tenth. Ask him about it! Chris lives in northern Massachusetts. His better half is Jacqueline Carly. Between the two of them, they have three kids, and love to explore many challenging and exciting hobbies and pastimes.

Larry Wall is a linguist, computer scientist, and community organizer. Larry is the creator of the Perl programming language along with many other useful software tools. Perl’s usefulness led to its popularity, which in turn led to a large community of developers and maintainers. We talk about the role of programming languages in systems, the evolution of Perl itself, and then explore the nature of the community that organized around Perl and its creator.

On August 14th I had the pleasure to speak at the 11th Podcamp Pittsburgh. As you have seen, System Smarts had a long period with no new episodes from March 2016 until August. I call this this my “dark period,” and I was eager to start publishing episodes again. The topic of my talk was fitting for me, restarting your podcast after an absence. This gave me two targets to hit by the same date: preparing a conference talk and actually relaunching System Smarts. Hoo boy! Nothing like...

John Melley is a Voice Actor and Business Audio Production Specialist from Boston, Massachusetts. John is the Production Director for Boston's award winning Mix 104.1 (WBMX) radio station. John is known throughout the Boston area and nationally for the great character voices he uses in commercials, promotions and announcements. John was recently heard on the TV commercials for the Jerry Seinfeld Production: “Long Story Short” Starring Colin Quinn. He has performed characters for Atari video...

Hello and welcome back to season two of System Smarts. Season one was awesome and I’ll keep up the momentum in season two with another great line up of guests. Over the next few months you’ll hear from scientists, artists, engineers, bee keepers, best-selling authors, and many more. Season two kicks off with a voice that you’ve heard on dozens of other podcasts, although you may not know it. I am still scheduling the latter part of the season, so if you know someone with a unique system...

Paul Sokol is an electrical engineer by trade and the Campaign Builder Mad Scientist at Infusionsoft - a moniker earned due to his breadth of knowledge. His first experience with Infusionsoft was when he co-founded jiveSYSTEMS, a business-class video email platform, in 2008 while obtaining his Masters degree in signal processing from the University of Central Florida. The company still exists today and is successfully running very efficiently thanks to the automation capabilities of...

While pursuing a Finance Degree at the University of Michigan Paul had dreams of climbing the corporate ladder to the top. Soon after starting his climb in Chicago, he started seeing cracks in the corporate rat race. Lost in a sea of cubicles and endlessly crunching spreadsheets with no sense of gratification, Paul packed his backpack and headed to South America for two months, knowing he would never return to Corporate America. When he did return, Paul began research into home-based...

Andrew Pavlick is a 3D content creator from Western Pennsylvania. Going against sound advice to pursue a degree in Information Technology. He decided to take a gamble and attend Bowling Green State University, where he earned a BFA with a focus in the Digital Arts. Since graduation he has worked on a variety of projects from content creation for mobile games, to training and medical simulation applications, and even 3d printing! Along with freelance and fulltime work, Andrew is also working...

Gene Bellinger has been a passionate Systems Thinker for almost four decades. He is a highly respected member of the systems thinking community, a member of the System Dynamics Society, author of several hundred articles, and host of over 800 videos on Systems Thinking. In 2013 Gene coauthored Beyond Connecting the Dots: Modeling for Meaningful Results with Scott Fortmann-Roe, the developer of Insight Maker. For almost six years Gene hosted the Systems Thinking World discussion groups on...

Dr. Derek Cabrera holds a PhD from Cornell University, has authored eight books, and is an internationally recognized expert in metacognition and systems thinking. His contributions to the field of systems thinking have been integrated into NSF, NIH, and USDA-NIFA programs nationwide. He has authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles and his research has been profiled in peer-reviewed journals, trade magazines, and popular publications. As a faculty member at...

Dr. Derek Cabrera holds a PhD from Cornell University, has authored eight books, and is an internationally recognized expert in metacognition and systems thinking. His contributions to the field of systems thinking have been integrated into NSF, NIH, and USDA-NIFA programs nationwide. He has authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles and his research has been profiled in peer-reviewed journals, trade magazines, and popular publications. As a faculty member at Cornell...

Curt McNamara, P.E. is a practicing designer with 30 years experience in medical, commercial, and industrial markets. An active Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers member, Curt received the IEEE Millennium Medal in 2000 for his ongoing work in education. He has worked with the Biomimicry Institute to create content for the Biomimicry Toolbox, is a Biomimicry Education Fellow, and helps with the Biomimicry Education Network. Curt created and teaches the Systems and Innovation...

Curt McNamara, P.E. is a practicing designer with 30 years experience in medical, commercial, and industrial markets. An active Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers member, Curt received the IEEE Millennium Medal in 2000 for his ongoing work in education. He has worked with the Biomimicry Institute to create content for the Biomimicry Toolbox, is a Biomimicry Education Fellow, and helps with the Biomimicry Education Network. Curt created and teaches the Systems and Innovation...

Dr. Julian Maha graduated from the University of Calgary School of Medicine at the age of 23. As an Emergency Department and Emergency Medical Services medical director in the state of Alabama, Dr. Maha has also done hospital consulting on emergency room work and patient flow. When his oldest son was diagnosed with autism, Dr. Maha focused his attention on helping his son. This effort led him to found KultureCity: an impact driven nonprofit that has applied a startup model to the nonprofit...

Randall Anway is a Registered Architect in New York and Connecticut. He specializes in design research and is inspired by natural patterns and systems. He holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut. His Accreditations include Certified Biomimicry Specialist, LEED AP, and Certified Sustainable Building Advisor. Randall’s experience includes building systems research for the Army Corps of...

Steven Harris is a consultant and expert in the field of energy. He is the founder and CEO of Knowledge Publications, the largest energy only publishing company in the USA. Mr. Harris came to his current position to do full time work on the development and implementation of hydrogen, biomass and solar related energy systems after spending 10 years in the Aero-Thermal Dynamics department of the Scientific Labs of Chrysler Corporation, where he was a pioneer member of the group that developed...

Diego Footer is founder and CEO of the Permaculture Voices Conference where his goal is to motivate and inspire people to push the limits, do great work, and live the life that they want to live through permaculture. With his wife and two daughters at his side he is planting out a future food forest in the arid climate of North County San Diego, converting his 3/4 acre suburban property into a functioning homestead using skills from his engineering background combined with permaculture...

Dr. Tom Recher is host of The Positivity Effect Podcast, with Weekly Interviews to inspire listeners to dig deep within, to live a healthy, wealthy, fulfilling life, full of gratitude. He also a doctor of audiology at Mid-Island Audiology, serving New York City with clinical diagnostics, counseling, hearing rehabilitation and conservation. System Ah-ha! Studying the anatomy and functions of the ear and hearing system in college. Favorite System Tool Fantastical calendar app...