In 2017, I boarded a flight to Boston with a notebook, curiosity… and zero clue what I was getting myself into.
I had just joined Residential College 4 (RC4), National University of Singapore as Director of Studies. Systems thinking and system dynamics? They were like spells in a language I didn’t yet speak. I still remember stepping into my first System Dynamics Conference feeling like a Muggle at Hogwarts. The room buzzed with ideas that were bewitching, but also deeply unfamiliar.
And yet… I was enchanted.
I didn’t know the magic, but I knew I wanted to learn it.
Fast forward 8 years, and here I am back in Boston, no longer the wide-eyed outsider. A little older, a little wiser, and incredibly grateful.
Over the years, life handed me a wand and said: “Teach the magic you wish to master.”
🎓 Teaching systems thinking at RC4 forced me to go deep.
🚲 A student project I co-led with Jonathan Yeo influenced Singapore’s national bike-sharing policy implemented by Land Transport Authority (LTA) Singapore.
🌍 I was invited into the Balaton Group (www.balatongroup.org), a gathering of global systems thinkers (think Dumbledore’s Army for systems change).
🏢 At Monde Nissin Corporation, I helped leaders untangle messy business problems using feedback loops and systems maps.
📘 Through my company Coddiwompling I’ve turned years of practice into a flagship Systems Thinking Habits for Leaders programme (https://lnkd.in/ghJMWgbr).
And perhaps most magically… I crossed paths with Professor John Richardson. A lifetime achievement award winner and now, quite unexpectedly, one of my closest friend, despite a 30+ year age gap. He believed in my way of teaching. He opened doors I didn’t know existed. He introduced me to a world I now call home.
Today, I serve as Vice President, Professional Practice and President, Asia Pacific Coordinating Policy Council of the System Dynamics Society. It is a deep privilege to be the only Asian from Asia-Pacific on the Policy Council and to represent the perspectives and views of the thousands of Asia Pacific members.
And yet, even now, I feel like Harry walking back into the Great Hall, filled with awe, with purpose, with an ever-burning belief that systems thinking can help us navigate the most complex challenges of our time.
As the World Economic Forum names systems thinking a must-have leadership skill through 2030, I leave you with a question:
🪄 What invisible forces, reinforcing or balancing, are shaping your life, your work, your impact?
If you’d like to explore this magic, follow Jenson Goh, PhD, PCC or reach out through PM. I’d love to help you see the system behind the scenes.