Leverage Points Si Guide Series

The interventions themselves, in this case very thin needles, do not insert new resources into the environment, they do not even take control over any key functions, they simply temporarily provide the system with information to reorganize itself.

In general, there are no linear solutions for a complex problem; rather, with partners, we have to identify what blockages and bottlenecks in the system — which may be political, economic, environmental, etc — and where we can intervene to influence current behavior. Thus, a strategy for leverage points should not just involve one intervention poin... See more

It is firstly important to know that leverage points are counter-intuitive. Leverage is not found in the centralized points of the greatest manifest power in the system but is found rather in abstraction. By abstraction, we mean shifting up from the manifest observable everyday phenomena to look at information flows and mental models. Understanding... See more

We need to place ourselves in the system and influence it at points where the minimal effort and resources will create the largest long term influence - the leverage points.

There are countless places within a complex system to place yourself where what you will do will have almost zero effect; worse than this, the points that look like they have the highest impact initially are often those with the lowest systemic effect.