THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS
Learning from Great Minds
Ideas from people who changed how we see, design and build the world.
Every future is built upon a way of seeing the world.
Learning from Great Minds brings together ideas from architecture, systems, economics, geopolitics, history, innovation and industrial transformation.
Katalyx turns those foundations into sharper choices, original blueprints and working propositions for leaders designing and building economic futures.
GREAT MINDSINPUT→DESIGN & BUILDACTION
01
Designing Systems
Everything is architecture.
The architect thinks in systems before objects.01.1FOUNDATIONAL
Building Construction Illustrated
Francis D.K. Ching
A visual grammar of how foundations, structures, envelopes and services become one coherent whole.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →01.2FOUNDATIONAL
A Pattern Language
Christopher Alexander
A catalogue of recurring design solutions that allow complex places to feel coherent, human and alive.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →01.3FOUNDATIONAL
The Timeless Way of Building
Christopher Alexander
An argument that enduring places emerge through an adaptive process that responds to life rather than fashion.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →01.4FOUNDATIONAL
How Buildings Learn
Stewart Brand
A study of how buildings change after completion—and why adaptable structures often outperform iconic ones.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →01.5FOUNDATIONAL
Thinking in Systems
Donella Meadows
A lucid guide to stocks, flows, feedback loops, delays and leverage points in complex systems.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →01.6FOUNDATIONAL
The Fifth Discipline
Peter Senge
A framework for learning organizations built on systems thinking, shared vision, mental models and collective mastery.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →01.7FOUNDATIONAL
The Design of Everyday Things
Don Norman
A foundational account of human-centered design, usability, feedback and the costly gap between intention and experience.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →03
Innovation and Industrial Transformation
Creating tomorrow’s industries.
Transformation requires understanding how industries evolve.03.1FOUNDATIONAL
The Innovator’s Dilemma
Clayton M. Christensen
The classic explanation of why well-managed incumbents can fail when disruptive technologies reshape markets.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →03.2FOUNDATIONAL
The Innovator’s Solution
Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor
A practical theory for creating growth through disruption, market segmentation and organizational design.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →03.3FOUNDATIONAL
The Entrepreneurial State
Mariana Mazzucato
A challenge to the myth that transformative innovation is produced by private enterprise alone.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →03.4FOUNDATIONAL
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
Carlota Perez
A theory of recurring technological surges, speculative finance, institutional adjustment and broad deployment.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →03.5FOUNDATIONAL
The Great Convergence
Richard Baldwin
An account of how lower communication costs unbundled production and transformed globalization.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →03.6FOUNDATIONAL
The Competitive Advantage of Nations
Michael E. Porter
A landmark framework explaining how demanding conditions, clusters and rivalry shape national competitiveness.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →03.7FOUNDATIONAL
Mission Economy
Mariana Mazzucato
A case for organizing public and private capabilities around bold, measurable societal missions.Read the Katalyx Interpretation →START A CONVERSATION