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The only problems that have simple solutions are simple problems. The only managers that have simple problems have simple minds. Problems that arise in organisations are almost always the product of interactions of parts, never the action of a single part. Complex problems do not have simple solutions.

— Russell L. Ackoff Ackoff (2007)

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More quotes by Russell L. Ackoff

When a business is bought, it is bought for its potential—for its future, not its past.

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A mission statement should define the business that the organization wants to be in, not necessarily what it is in.

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Over time, every way of thinking generates important problems that it cannot solve.

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The only managers that have simple problems have simple minds.

Ackoff (2007)

The lower the rank of managers, the more they know about fewer things. The higher the rank of managers, the less they know about many things.

p. 2 cited in: Gregory H. Watson (2010)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Russell L. Ackoff (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.