Systems Thinking Tools Leaders Actually Use: Insights from our 2025 conference: The System Is the Strategy

Throughout our 6th edition of the Cosmic Conference, our speakers approached systems thinking from different disciplines and contexts. They also pointed to tools they return to when trying to understand complexity, make sense of dynamics, or support collective thinking.

Here are their recommendations:

Visualizing Systems and Relationships

Several speakers emphasized tools that make systems visible, especially relationships, feedback loops, and interactions over time.

• “Drawing the system”: mapping parts, relationships, feedback loops, and time horizons 

  — José Santos, Affiliated Professor of Practice in Global Management at INSEAD

  
  

• Rich pictures: creating a “mess” to surface complexity 

  — José-Rodrigo Córdoba-Pachón, Associate Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London

  
  

• The Iceberg Model: adaptable across shapes and contexts 

  
  

  

  
  

  — Darren Yeh, Managing Director at Omplexity

  — Rawan Albina, Leadership & Wellbeing Academies Director at Chalhoub Group 

  
  

These tools help leaders move beyond surface events to examine patterns, structures, and underlying dynamics.

Working with Structure, Logic, and Causality

Other speakers referenced tools that help structure thinking and clarify causality within systems.

• Six Moves (DSRP): especially the RDS barbell, to examine relationships rather than elements 

  
  

  

  
  

  — Dr. Laura Cabrera, and Dr. Derek Cabrera, Founders of the Cabrera Research Lab & Professors at Cornell University

  
  

• Theory of Change: clarifying intent, assumptions, and pathways 

  
  

  

  — Daniel Delati, Managing Partner at 360 Consulting 

  — Mazuba Haanyama, Independent Consultant

  
  

• Replacement ladder — shifting focus from “how” to “who” 

  — Dhiren Bhatia, Entrepreneur, Coach, and Founder of Cloudscape Technologies

  
  

These tools support reasoning, alignment, and shared understanding around how change happens.

Practice-Based and Adaptive Approaches

Some speakers described tools less as formal models and more as ways of working with systems.

• Reflection

  — Sander Hoeken, Co-Founder of The Fearless Organization Scan & Founder of CellSpace

  
  

• Learning through iteration: testing, failing fast, adjusting based on feedback 

  — Imad Lahad, Global Chair for AI & Intelligence at APCO

  
  

• PERFORM Methodology: translating systems thinking into sustained execution 

  — Stoyan Yankov, Productivity & Performance Consultant

  
  

These approaches emphasize engagement over abstraction and learning through action.

This completes the third rapid fire question explored with our speakers at The 2025 Cosmic Conference: The System is the Strategy. 

Together with the previous articles on What an Effective Systems Look Like, The Leadership Qualities That Make Systems Thinking Stick, and The Mindset Leaders Need When Leading Systems, the article rounds out a coherent view of systems thinking as both practice and discipline.