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Synergy is the only word in our language which identifies the meaning for which it stands. Since the word is unknown to the average public, as I have already pointed out, it is not at all surprising that synergy has not been included in the economic accounting of our wealth transactions or in assessing our common wealth capabilities.

Buckminster Fuller#33

SynergyCollaborationEconomicsLanguageMeasurementValue

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About this quote

What does it mean?
Fuller argues that synergy is a unique concept describing combined effects greater than the sum of parts, yet it is absent from economic systems. Because the public does not understand it, our accounting methods ignore this vital aspect of wealth.
In plain terms
Synergy is a unique word for combined value, but we ignore it in economics because people do not understand it.
What can you take from it?
Recognize and account for combined value rather than just individual parts.

Where it applies

  • business strategy
  • resource allocation
  • policy making

Putting it to work

  • Valuing team outcomes over individual output
  • designing collaborative systems
  • educating on systems thinking

Questions to consider

  • How do we measure value that emerges from interaction?
  • Why do economic models ignore combined effects?

Another view

The term synergy is actually widely used in business, contradicting the claim that it is unknown to the public.

More from Buckminster Fuller

  1. The difference between mind and brain is that brain deals only with memorized, subjective, special-case experiences and objective experiments, while mind extra…

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  2. You may very appropriately want to ask me how we are going to resolve the ever-acceleratingly dangerous impasse of world-opposed politicians and ideological do…

    Permalink to quote #34

  3. Sum-totally, we find that the physical constituent of wealth-energy-cannot decrease and that the metaphysical constituent-know-how-can only increase. This is t…

    Permalink to quote #31

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