To appreciate the underlying assumptions and organizing principles of systems thinking, it is important to note the following concerns:

1. Appreciate the all-important context. We have a tendency to start with the problem as though it exists in isolation. A phenomenon that can be a problem in one context may not be one in another. Likewise, a solution that may prove effective in a given context may not work in another. In a systems view, neither the problem nor the solution is regarded free of context.

2. There is a need to deal with the problem independent of the solutions at hand. We have a tendency to define the problem in terms of the solution we already have. We fail most often not because we fail to solve the problem we face, but because we fail to face the right problem. Rather than doing what we should, we do what we can. In the systems view, it is the solution that has to fit the problem, not vice versa.

3. There is a need to redesign as opposed to invoking the same set of predefined solutions. We have a tendency to entertain only the tried and true. If a solution is unprecedented, it is automatically rejected as suspect. The habitual default of so-called problem solving, left to its own devices, can turn into a self-reproducing vicious circle militating against any difference that can make a real difference. Thus, in the name of reinventing the future, we keep on reproducing the past, wondering all along why it is that history repeats itself as though no lesson has ever been learned.