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In this Newsletter:
- Reminder: Louis Klein's webinar June the 3rd, 5 pm
- Forthcoming VSM-Practitioner Webinars
- News and update on Stafford's centenary
- Invitation to contribute
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In this Newsletter:
- Reminder: Louis Klein's webinar June the 3rd, 5 pm
- Forthcoming VSM-Practitioner Webinars
- News and update on Stafford's centenary
- Invitation to contribute
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There is a success paradox in systems thinking and systems practice. Systems thinking has travelled far. Across health, sustainability, governance, and organisational life, its concepts and methods have become widely adopted. Systems language has arrived in the mainstream. It became a field in itself, but not for itself. The systems community is not fully aware of its potential.
In my session, I explore the success paradox: the field appears vibrant in application, yet comparatively thin in shared understanding. This sits with a more structural concern, a reflexivity gap. Systems research has become highly capable of studying learning and feedback in other systems, while only intermittently applying the same meta-reflexive discipline to itself. This is the final step to recognise and realise a shared understanding of the cyber-systemic community, living up to become the partner, societal development is so desperately looking for in the 21st century.
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“Dr. Louis Klein is a systems researcher, strategy advisor, and scholar-practitioner working at the intersection of governance, organisational development, and systemic transformation. He serves as Dean of the European School of Governance and Secretary-General of the International Federation for Systems Research. His work explores how organisations and societies can enhance their capacity for learning, collaboration, and responsible agency in the face of growing systemic complexity.
Drawing on traditions such as cybernetics, systems thinking, and hermeneutic philosophy, his research focuses on the conditions under which institutions become capable of addressing interdependent social and ecological challenges. A recurring theme in his publications is the cultivation of organisational and societal capabilities that enable collective reflection, dialogue across perspectives, and the co-creation of viable futures of co-flourishing.
Over the past three decades, he has worked worldwide with businesses, public institutions, and international networks on questions of governance, leadership, and transformative learning. His scholarly and practical contributions aim to bridge systemic inquiry with concrete organisational practice, particularly in contexts characterised by uncertainty and complexity.
Through his research, teaching, and advisory work, he seeks to advance forms of collaboration that strengthen the viability of organisations, communities, and the wider socio-ecological systems in which they are embedded.” |
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Forthcoming VSM-Practitioner Webinars
8 July, 2026
Louis Harel, pims.ai on VSM and Environments for Decision ("Ops Rooms")
9 September, 2026
Judith Hennemann, AUMOVIO on an Application Case (dbt)
14 October, 2026
Andreas Schmidt, VR Bank Starnberg on an Application Case (dbt, in German)
11 November, 2026
Mark Lambertz, Bosch on VSM Gaming
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Stafford Beer 100 — an update, and a thank you
To those who have already contributed to ongoing activities for Stafford's centenary: thank you!. Here is where the work stands.
Preparations for our 2026 conference in Manchester Sept 17th-19th, are going very well.
- We have a very good number of people already registered and several abstracts submitted.
- We are having confirmation from authors in the Festschrift who will be there presenting their work.
- Our special issues in Systems Research and Behavioural Sciences, and Systems Practice and Action Research with papers from the centenary events have been accepted and will be launched shortly.
- The ASC Conference Stream on Stafford Beer’s legacy in Latin America (August 3rd-7th) has been very well received. J Alves and A Leonard will be leading it.
- Metaphorum has become a full member of the International Society for Systems Sciences, who is also supporting us in the conference and the centenary project.
The 100 Years Festschrift Book edited by Angela Espinosa, Markus Schwaninger and Jose Perez Rios is well underway:
- We have received the first draft chapters from the authors and they are now producing a second draft.
- We are confident that we ll have the online book ready for the conference in September.
The Video documentary is being developed:
- Over the past weeks, Angela Espinosa, Jon Walker, and our filmmaker Garrick Filewod travelled together to film at Cwarel Isaf, the Stafford Beer’s archive at Liverpool John Moors University, and at Vanilla Beer's home in Esperaza — gathering letters, paintings, and artifacts, many never publicly seen.
- Online interviews are being recorded with collaborators around the world, including Allenna Leonard, the Canadian Team Syntegrity team; and lead cyberneticians in Europe, the USA, and Latin-America.
- Interviews will be made available soon at the centenary website.
Boyan Angelov, with the centenary team, is building the centenary website:
- it includes a digital musuem with: tasters of the video-documentary and personal tributes from Stafford’s collaborators worldwide.
- You are welcome to contribute with a Tribute, e.g., by sharing the ideas he ignited, the conversations he opened, and the person he was.
- We are building the digital museum with your contributions: any quotes, music, videos. pictures, and reflections are welcome! Please submit any contributions to metaphorum.org@gmail.com.
- A small piece of news: We have recovered from our personal copies the original Festschrift from Stafford's 70th birthday, led by Raul Espejo and Markus Schwaninger. With their permission, we will republish it on the centenary site alongside the new Festschrift book. Juliana Alves will share some of it at the American Society of Cybernetics conference in Brazil in August.
Ahead lies editing, post-production, printing, and translation for the 100 Years Festschrift book and the video documentary. No one is paid. No one profits. Both works will be free under Creative Commons.
- Malek Radwan is leading the GoFund Campaign.
- Bruno Vaz is leading outreach. They are achieving encouraging early results.
Two ways to walk with us:
→ Donate: https://www.gofundme.com/f/100-years-of-stafford
→ Share with someone who knew Stafford, or whose thinking he would have changed.
With warmth, The Stafford Beer 100 team https://staffordbeer100.com
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