Dan Heath

So their meetings involved what they called a by name list. They keep a real time census of every homeless person in the community. And when they meet, they talk about Mike. They talk about Steve and they say, OK, who's seen Steve left? Well, Steve last rather. Well, I saw him under the bridge last week. He's still got his tent under there.

So their meetings involved what they called a by name list. They keep a real time census of every homeless person in the community. And when they meet, they talk about Mike. They talk about Steve and they say, OK, who's seen Steve left? Well, Steve last rather. Well, I saw him under the bridge last week. He's still got his tent under there.

So their meetings involved what they called a by name list. They keep a real time census of every homeless person in the community. And when they meet, they talk about Mike. They talk about Steve and they say, OK, who's seen Steve left? Well, Steve last rather. Well, I saw him under the bridge last week. He's still got his tent under there.

He's coming to the shelter a few times a week to get lunch. Okay, who's going to reach out to them and see if he's ready to be housed? Well, someone raises their hand and said, we'll do that this week. And that's what the meetings are like. They're very concrete. They're very human.

He's coming to the shelter a few times a week to get lunch. Okay, who's going to reach out to them and see if he's ready to be housed? Well, someone raises their hand and said, we'll do that this week. And that's what the meetings are like. They're very concrete. They're very human.

He's coming to the shelter a few times a week to get lunch. Okay, who's going to reach out to them and see if he's ready to be housed? Well, someone raises their hand and said, we'll do that this week. And that's what the meetings are like. They're very concrete. They're very human.

And the result of that is you come to understand all the moving parts in the system so much better because you see them through the lens of these real individual cases and And that taught me something powerful that what feels like macro change often starts with micro understanding that you can't help thousands of people or millions until you can help one.

And the result of that is you come to understand all the moving parts in the system so much better because you see them through the lens of these real individual cases and And that taught me something powerful that what feels like macro change often starts with micro understanding that you can't help thousands of people or millions until you can help one.

And the result of that is you come to understand all the moving parts in the system so much better because you see them through the lens of these real individual cases and And that taught me something powerful that what feels like macro change often starts with micro understanding that you can't help thousands of people or millions until you can help one.

And I think that's part of the antidote here is learning how to change the way we collaborate and learning how to get closer to the systems that yield the problems.

And I think that's part of the antidote here is learning how to change the way we collaborate and learning how to get closer to the systems that yield the problems.

And I think that's part of the antidote here is learning how to change the way we collaborate and learning how to get closer to the systems that yield the problems.

Exactly right. And what we're fighting there is, I mean, most organizations are designed with great care and intention to divide people up and to force them to specialize within silos. And it's not that there's some evil intent there. That's the source of great efficiencies. You know, you have the one guy on the assembly line whose job it is to screw in the widgets.

Exactly right. And what we're fighting there is, I mean, most organizations are designed with great care and intention to divide people up and to force them to specialize within silos. And it's not that there's some evil intent there. That's the source of great efficiencies. You know, you have the one guy on the assembly line whose job it is to screw in the widgets.

Exactly right. And what we're fighting there is, I mean, most organizations are designed with great care and intention to divide people up and to force them to specialize within silos. And it's not that there's some evil intent there. That's the source of great efficiencies. You know, you have the one guy on the assembly line whose job it is to screw in the widgets.

And by God, with a lot of practice, he gets very efficient at screwing in the widgets. But that very same structure is also the deterrent to solving bigger problems than exist at any one level of that kind of fragmented infrastructure. Just to be more tangible about this, there's a story about Expedia, which is the online travel site where you can book hotels or airfare or whatever.

And by God, with a lot of practice, he gets very efficient at screwing in the widgets. But that very same structure is also the deterrent to solving bigger problems than exist at any one level of that kind of fragmented infrastructure. Just to be more tangible about this, there's a story about Expedia, which is the online travel site where you can book hotels or airfare or whatever.

And by God, with a lot of practice, he gets very efficient at screwing in the widgets. But that very same structure is also the deterrent to solving bigger problems than exist at any one level of that kind of fragmented infrastructure. Just to be more tangible about this, there's a story about Expedia, which is the online travel site where you can book hotels or airfare or whatever.

They had a problem back in 2012 where of every hundred customers who booked a reservation on the site, 58 of them ended up calling the call center for support, which is just kind of mind-boggling, right? Because the whole point of an online travel site is that you can do it yourself. And yet almost 60% of the people who did it themselves ended up needing help.

They had a problem back in 2012 where of every hundred customers who booked a reservation on the site, 58 of them ended up calling the call center for support, which is just kind of mind-boggling, right? Because the whole point of an online travel site is that you can do it yourself. And yet almost 60% of the people who did it themselves ended up needing help.