In this Sloanies Talking with Sloanies podcast, host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Nelson Repenning, PhD ’96, (School of Management Distinguished Professor of System Dynamics and Organization Studies) about his 2025 book There's Got to Be a Better Way, co-authored with Donald Kieffer (Senior Lecturer, System Dynamics). A system dynamics expert who started at MIT as a PhD candidate at 23 and now directs the MIT Leadership Center, Repenning's research probes why organizations ignore proven tools, from lean methods to safety protocols in industries like oil and gas. The book's thesis: static plans (strategies, budgets) clash with rapid change, spawning "firefighting" via ad-hoc fixes that stifles long-term productivity.
Repenning tackles buy-in hurdles for invisible wins, like safety where "nobody gets credit for defects that never happened," especially in high-risk sectors with delayed feedback. For middle managers, he champions "dynamic work design"—tackling small, quick experiments on pain points to yield fast results and organic spread, as seen in Harley-Davidson's backlog fixes and the Broad Institute's 2020 COVID pivot, favoring iterative problem-solving over rigid control.
He stresses cultural tools like the "human chain" for face-to-face ambiguity resolution amid email overload, linking it to return-to-office trends for mentorship. Reflecting on his 1990s spark questioning tool adoption, Repenning notes system dynamics' mainstream rise at Sloan amid AI's black boxes. Advice for students: embrace MIT's low-structure entrepreneurialism and diverse programs expanded his mindset beyond technical expertise to create meaningful societal impact.
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