Complex Problems Demand New Thinking

 
 

Leaders need “Systemic Intelligence” (SysQ™) to navigate an ever-intensifying array of adaptive challenges

 
 
 
 
 

Finding High Leverage

Solutions that don’t solve adaptive challenges—or make things worse—have serious consequences. The cost to your organization is high for decisions made with low SysQTM

Systemic Intelligence (SysQ) Helps Leaders Build…

 

High Functioning Teams

  • Harness all their skills
  • Turn disagreement into learning
  • Accelerate problem solving
  • Generate buy-in ... and results
 

Actionable Insights

  • Find what's important in the tsunami of urgent
  • Bring clarity to persistent problems
  • Focus on multi-solving
  • Find solutions
 

Flexible Strategies

  • Come from understanding how the world works
  • Identify overlooked drivers of performance
  • Find natural synergy in unnatural places
  • See potential unintended consequences
 

Organizational Learning

  • Drives implementation
  • Applies systemic orchestration
  • Increases buy-in and engagement
  • Steers with leading indicators

 Pontifex Clients

 
Link to Fannie Mae
 
 
link to Johnson and Johnson
 
 
link to pepsi
 
 
 
link to nissan
 
 
link to hewlett packard
 
 
link to united way
 
 
link to centers for disease control and prevention
 
link to aramark
 
 
link to mayo clinic
 
 
link to Massachusetts institute of technology
 
 

Our Services

CONSULTING

Our consulting gives your organization the solutions you need to achieve your strategic goals. Our expertise unleashes your creativity and experience as we build solutions with you. Our mission is to build capacity in all our work. The result is you and your team will increase your Systemic Intelligence (SysQ™) while getting high impact results.

 

TRAINING

Our training gives your organization the capacity to develop high leverage strategy - solving problems - previously seen as unsolvable. We customize our training to your needs, providing experientially based learning experiences on-site and virtually.

 
 

Recent Articles

Featured
Ripple Across Time Awareness
Ripple Across Time Awareness
Adaptive Challenges Require SysQ
Adaptive Challenges Require SysQ
Inflation Fears Rise. Paper Supply Falls.
Inflation Fears Rise. Paper Supply Falls.
SysQ Matters—Overview
SysQ Matters—Overview

  • “SysQ™ provides a powerful set of tools that boost team performance by getting people to stop pointing fingers at each other and to start pointing fingers at the problem. I’ve worked with Chris on a wide variety of projects for well over fifteen years. I’ve seen the impressive power of his work first-hand on more occasions than I can count.”

    Craig Weber,
    Author, Conversational Capacity: The Secret to Building Successful Teams that Perform When the Pressure is On.

  • "While predictive analytics provides correlations, it does not help identify leverage points for management to devise policies that would address today’s adaptive challenges. This is where systemic intelligence—using formal modeling based on the system dynamics approach—becomes more than useful. It’s essential. Without this capacity we cannot solve the wicked problems arising from today’s complex world."

    Prakash Shrivastava
    Clinical Professor, Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas

  • “Chris’ approach to systems thinking is different from other practitioners. He’s one of a handful of professionals largely responsible for ensuring the continued demand for systems thinking and systems modeling.”

    Tom Chapel
    former board member American Evaluation Association

  • “The results of Chris’s contributions were measured through tangible and intangible ROI metrics. The results were OFF THE CHARTS; exceeded expectations. The systemic intelligence concepts/modules were integral to the program’s success.”

    Dr. Kim Armstrong
    Program Leader | Sr Instructional Systems Designer | Leadership Development Expert

 
 
 

Chris Soderquist (Pontifex Consulting) helps people and teams approach their most pressing challenges with more focus and force. He has developed the field of systemic intelligence – SysQ – the capacity to apply tools and concepts of systems thinking to design high leverage interventions for addressing real-world problems. His unique work elevates traditional "systems thinking" into a discipline that is easier to learn, easier to apply, and more impactful. This discipline helps clients build high performing teams and projects that deliver on their objectives — in a more focused, effective, and efficient way

Chris is a contributing author to The Change Handbook (Berrett-Koehler, 1999) and his video Finding Leverage — created for the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors — won the Communicator Award of Excellence for Cause Marketing. His video series on building systemic intelligence is available on the CDC-TV channel. 

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