Dan Heath

There's a story that I love about a receiving area at a hospital, Northwestern Memorial Hospital. And so this is the group whose job it is to take incoming packages and get them delivered to their appropriate places in the hospital. And for a long time, their average delivery time from receipt of package to ultimate delivery was three days, right?

So UPS or FedEx would deliver the package across the country in a day or two, and then to get from the receiving area to the third floor of the same hospital might take another three days. And I love situations like that because, let's be clear, the people working in this department, they were not lazy. They were not stupid.

So UPS or FedEx would deliver the package across the country in a day or two, and then to get from the receiving area to the third floor of the same hospital might take another three days. And I love situations like that because, let's be clear, the people working in this department, they were not lazy. They were not stupid.

So UPS or FedEx would deliver the package across the country in a day or two, and then to get from the receiving area to the third floor of the same hospital might take another three days. And I love situations like that because, let's be clear, the people working in this department, they were not lazy. They were not stupid.

They were just stuck inside a system that had kind of hardened and become entrenched. And maybe my favorite quote in the book captures this. It comes from a healthcare expert named Paul Batalden, who says that every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

They were just stuck inside a system that had kind of hardened and become entrenched. And maybe my favorite quote in the book captures this. It comes from a healthcare expert named Paul Batalden, who says that every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

They were just stuck inside a system that had kind of hardened and become entrenched. And maybe my favorite quote in the book captures this. It comes from a healthcare expert named Paul Batalden, who says that every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

And I think that's the story of situations like that receiving area where every day you come to work, as long as you can remember, it's taken you three days to get packages delivered. And you come eventually to kind of shrug your shoulders and say, well, maybe that's the way things work. And so it's situations like that that I'm hoping to help people get out of.

And I think that's the story of situations like that receiving area where every day you come to work, as long as you can remember, it's taken you three days to get packages delivered. And you come eventually to kind of shrug your shoulders and say, well, maybe that's the way things work. And so it's situations like that that I'm hoping to help people get out of.

And I think that's the story of situations like that receiving area where every day you come to work, as long as you can remember, it's taken you three days to get packages delivered. And you come eventually to kind of shrug your shoulders and say, well, maybe that's the way things work. And so it's situations like that that I'm hoping to help people get out of.

That is exactly it. Yes. It's like you come to just almost accept the way things are as well. This is just the way nature operates, right? It's because that's all you've ever seen. I mean, every day you come to work, you work a hard eight hour day, you go home and next day it's the same thing. And so what often happens is, and in this case, this is what happened. An outsider came in.

That is exactly it. Yes. It's like you come to just almost accept the way things are as well. This is just the way nature operates, right? It's because that's all you've ever seen. I mean, every day you come to work, you work a hard eight hour day, you go home and next day it's the same thing. And so what often happens is, and in this case, this is what happened. An outsider came in.

That is exactly it. Yes. It's like you come to just almost accept the way things are as well. This is just the way nature operates, right? It's because that's all you've ever seen. I mean, every day you come to work, you work a hard eight hour day, you go home and next day it's the same thing. And so what often happens is, and in this case, this is what happened. An outsider came in.

Who had a background in lean manufacturing. And so he comes in and he immediately realizes, you know, half dozen things that they could fix to get way better performance. But he's also savvy enough and wise enough to realize it's not enough for him to want to change. He's got to plant the seed with this crew.

Who had a background in lean manufacturing. And so he comes in and he immediately realizes, you know, half dozen things that they could fix to get way better performance. But he's also savvy enough and wise enough to realize it's not enough for him to want to change. He's got to plant the seed with this crew.

Who had a background in lean manufacturing. And so he comes in and he immediately realizes, you know, half dozen things that they could fix to get way better performance. But he's also savvy enough and wise enough to realize it's not enough for him to want to change. He's got to plant the seed with this crew.

And so he starts by canvassing them to figure out, hey, I'm here to help us all do better work to make your life easier, to make it smoother. If I can do that, will you help me? And the first thing he asked them is what's getting in your way? What are your complaints? What are the stones in your shoes, so to speak?

And so he starts by canvassing them to figure out, hey, I'm here to help us all do better work to make your life easier, to make it smoother. If I can do that, will you help me? And the first thing he asked them is what's getting in your way? What are your complaints? What are the stones in your shoes, so to speak?

And so he starts by canvassing them to figure out, hey, I'm here to help us all do better work to make your life easier, to make it smoother. If I can do that, will you help me? And the first thing he asked them is what's getting in your way? What are your complaints? What are the stones in your shoes, so to speak?

And they start flagging these very mundane things like, you know, they push the packages around on carts and some of the carts have those kind of janky gummed up wheels like you get in the supermarket sometimes. And so this new guy says instantly, okay, new carts, new wheels, whatever it takes, that shouldn't be a source of friction in our work. What's next?