TOCICO

In trying to answer the long standing question: “What is TOC?” Goldratt alluded to the story where a stranger approaches the sage Hillel (sometimes referred to as Rabbi) and asks him to teach all of Judaism (the Torah) in the time he’s able to stand in one leg. Hillel responds with: “Don’t do unto others what is hateful to you, that is the whole of Judaism. The rest is consequence, go and study”. The stranger impressed with the answer became a disciple and followed Hillel’s teachings. In 2010 Goldratt presented the introduction he wrote for the TOC Handbook and introduced the current definition or summary of TOC: Focus. And by Focus he means not only to do what must be done, but also (and especially) not do what should not be done. And mimicking Hillel Goldratt also prompts us to think when he implies that: “TOC is Focus, the rest is Consequence, go and learn”. As a thought provoking proposition this was extremely successful and many conversations and discussions resulted based on this definition and the rest of the introduction. It is now time to add another topic to this beautiful introduction and explore what are the consequences of defining TOC as Focus. Some of these consequences include: What is the fundamental flaw in the traditional view of human ethics and how TOC solves it; Why the main obstacle between the animal and human nature has not yet been overcome and the role of TOC in removing it; The main limitations of human beings; The five principles of TOC and their source; The fallacy of big x small TOC and local x holistic TOC; The fallacy of logistical x thinking processes; and What is the core essence of TOC and what is consequence? We hope that with this renewed view many conflicts and setbacks experienced in the past years will be solved and that TOC will contribute more and more to the world’s well being.