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The Nataraja is perhaps the most well-recognized anthropomorphic form of the Hindu god, Shiva. This paper articulates a set of principles for a recently developed conceptual lens in systems thinking called Holistic Flexibility for flexible and responsible management practice. The five most important function of the Nataraja, or the panchakritya, have been drawn on to articulate these principles; these principles are – "system as becoming", drawing from srishti or creation, "transformative flexibility", drawing from samhara or transformation, "responsible practice" drawing from tirobhava or (freedom from) ignorance, "spiral of learning" drawing from samhara or liberation, and "pragmatic artistry" drawing from sthithi or assurance. An argument is presented to establish the importance of management consciousness drawing from the Shiva philosophy. Behaviors associated with the principles are enlisted along with the challenges for managers to display these behaviors. The discussions presented argue that Holistic Flexibility and its principles can lend a new character to systems thinking as a state of mind to supersede a rational-analytical approach.

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Considering Systems Thinking (ST) as a cognitive skill can create greater acceptability of and openness to the discipline from practitioners and researchers outside operations research and management science. Rather than associating ST with frameworks and methodologies, ST as a cognitive skill can help popularize and democratize the discipline. This paper highlights how the conceptual lens of Holistic Flexibility can help practitioners deploy ST as a cognitive skill without the application of any traditional systems methodology. Holistic Flexibility is defined as the dynamic interplay between a state of mind that has the ability to absorb systemic complexity and a state of practice that has the ability to embrace flexibility, both in intent and in form. Through two case-studies, discussions in this paper highlight how Holistic Flexibility can serve as a conceptual lens for systems practitioners. The case-studies demonstrate the importance of a practitioner’s ability to seamlessly manage and work with multiple variables, stakeholders, and factors to deliver responsible outcomes with the aid of learning loops. The main contribution of this paper lies in the case-studies and analyses presented that provide use cases for Holistic Flexibility in ST, which will help address recent calls in the discipline for ST to be considered as a cognitive skill.