The 55 Minutes

""James Stauch's The 55 Minutes is the book on complexity and systems theory I have been wishing for as a resource to train students and emerging researchers across disciplines around collaboration, design and innovation. Stauch fully integrates research and theory, while keeping his focus on the skills and mindsets one needs to develop and hone to be the vehicle of transformative action. It is both a brilliant resource for those interested in social and public change and mandatory reading for those who need to apply social science and humanities training in the real world."" Sandra Lapointe, Professor of Philosophy and Director of The/La Collaborative at McMaster University ""In a world that screams for speed and easy answers, The 55 Minutes is a radical act of necessary defiance. Stauch, Johnson, and Papi-Thornton haven't just written a book; they've crafted an indispensable atlas for navigating the messy, complex reality we're all facing. It forces the crucial pause - the deep dive into understanding the actual problem - before we waste precious energy on superficial fixes. If you're serious about driving real change, not just innovation theatre, this is your essential starting point. Slow down with this book, then go be radical."" Pascal Finette, Founder & CEO, radical ""Everything is connected to everything else in our world and when we try to address the great challenges of our times as if they were isolated technical problems rather than complex living systems, it only makes them worse. 55 Minutes brings together the language and tools needed to see systems more clearly and to influence them more skillfully; nothing could be more important. This remarkable book bridges from theory to practice and from local to global, offering readers practical wisdom for understanding complex problems more deeply and crafting viable pathways towards a flourishing future. It's a magnificent and timely contribution!"" Julian Norris, Co-Founder, The Wolf Willow Institute ""James Stauch's book is a wonderfully comprehensive guide of the critical tools to think and practice in systems. It organizes the 'mess' of tools into an easy-to-follow framework, making them accessible to any new or seasoned systems practitioner."" Tima Bansal, Ivey Business School and 2025 Clarendon Lecturer in Management Studies, University of Oxford ""This is an extraordinary piece of work - beautifully written, profoundly insightful, and deeply resonant. This book is exactly what we need to help make sense of the polycrisis and, more importantly, to guide us toward meaningful action."" Ushma Issar, Founder and CEO, Rypple ""Do you want to do better work? Read this book. Its models and tools are a compass for every practice, revealing a profound truth often hiding in plain sight: to arrive at the most marvellous answer, you must first ask the best question. This is truly one of the most useful books I've read in a long time and am so thrilled for it to get into people's hands."" Matthew Shaw, Head, Accessibility Practice, Rick Hansen Foundation ""A beautiful and brilliant book!"" Adam Kahane, Co-Founder of Reos Partners and author of Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems