What an Effective System Looks Like: Insights from our 2025 Conference: The System Is the Strategy

Our sixth edition of our Cosmic Conference explored how leaders in the GCC, Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, and beyond can shift from firefighting to future-building by adopting systems thinking as a mindset, methodology, and muscle.

One central question was simple but demanding: If the system is the strategy, what does a good system actually look like in practice?

Rather than answering it ourselves, we asked every speaker this question. Each one defined it within their own professional lens, and what emerged was a set of complementary truths that, together, reveal how high-performing systems actually work:

Execution & Flow: Systems only work if they are lived.

An effective system is…

• “One you execute consistently”

  — Stoyan Yankov, Productivity & Performance Consultant

  
  

• “In flow. It feels effortless because friction has been designed out”

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

  
  

Effectiveness here is less about design brilliance and more about what holds up in daily reality.

Adaptation & Learning: Effective systems respond to reality.

An effective system is…

• “One that adapts continuously to its surrounding environment”

  — Dr. Derek Cabrera, Professor at Cornell University

  
  

• “Not perfect. One that learns, adapts, and reinvents itself”

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

  
  

• “In constant evolution. It is never at rest”

  — Marilyn Zakhour, CEO of Cosmic Centaurs

  
  

• “Agile”

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

  
  

Across these perspectives, stability comes from allowing systems to adjust as conditions change.

Awareness, Connection & Sense-Making: Systems fail when they stop sensing themselves.

An effective system is…

• “Self-aware”

  — Dr. Laura Cabrera, Professor at Cornell University

  
  

• “A connected system”

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

  
  

• “One that allows you to be in tune with everything around you”

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

  
  

• “Balancing the yin and yang, the positive and negative feedback loops”

  — Darren Yeh, Managing Director at Omplexity

Awareness and connection enable systems to register feedback, sense shifts, and remain responsive rather than reactive.

Purpose, Inclusion & Sustainability: Systems endure when they serve more than short-term performance.

An effective system is…

• “Based on a clear mission”

  — Daniel Delati, Managing Partner at 360 Consulting

  
  

• “One that works for everyone involved”

  — Mazuba Haanyama, Independent Consultant

  
  

• “Sustainable and viable over time”

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

  
  

• “Relaxed but focused, like playing an instrument”

  — Chun Feng Dong, Associate Director of Organizational Development at Roche

Longevity here is framed across disciplines, sectors, and perspectives, our speakers converged on one idea: Effective systems are living, learning mechanisms.

Three signals surfaced repeatedly:

• Adaptation over optimization: responding to reality matters more than perfecting a static design.

• Awareness over automation: systems must sense themselves and their environment to stay relevant.

• Consistency over intensity: what sustains performance is not ambition, but continuity over time.

  
  

In other words, the most effective systems are not flawless. They are alive.

This is just one of the rapid fire questions we explored with our speakers at The 2025 Cosmic Conference: The System is the Strategy .

Together with The Leadership Qualities That Make Systems Thinking Stick, The Mindset Leaders Need When Leading Systems, and Systems Thinking Tools Leaders Actually Use, speakers shared quick answers to what it takes to design, lead, and evolve systems that perform under pressure.