In the words of Bob Dylan: “To live outside the law, you must be honest” [1].

I first met Dr. Michael C. Jackson, dean, professor, and rebel, at the grand opening of the University of Lincoln and Humberside, in 1996. During my visit, we discussed jacket potatoes, thinking hats, British Mexican food, fireworks, and the proper way to greet Her Majesty the Queen (hint: be introduced before speaking).

Critical systems thinking: a practitioner’s guide is the offspring of Jackson’s previous book Critical systems thinking and the management of complexity, a much larger, research-oriented volume [2].

This practitioner’s guide has three parts. Part 1 outlines the emergence and early development of critical systems thinking (CST) from the scientific method and systems thinking. Part 2 defines critical systems practice (CSP) and its four circular practices: (1) explore the situation of interest; (2) produce an intervention strategy; (3) intervene flexibly; and (4) check on progress. Each practice is developed further in a separate chapter. Finally, Part 3 introduces critical systems leadership (CSL), a key and previously missing ingredient for CSP.

Along the way, Jackson provides a grand tour of the work of other systems scholars and practitioners, as well as an open and honest appraisal of his own. He contends that this is his last book. Let’s hope not. The world still needs his critical systems leadership. Two possibilities: separate CSP from this book into a smaller volume, and develop CSL further.

More reviews about this item: Amazon