Dan Heath

Well, this is another layer of the upstream challenge. is thinking in systems and realizing that when we intervene in systems, they're likely to have unintended consequences. There was an example in New York City where a Google engineer, a young guy, was walking through Central Park and a branch from an oak tree fell down and hit him on the head and caused brain injuries and paralysis.

Well, this is another layer of the upstream challenge. is thinking in systems and realizing that when we intervene in systems, they're likely to have unintended consequences. There was an example in New York City where a Google engineer, a young guy, was walking through Central Park and a branch from an oak tree fell down and hit him on the head and caused brain injuries and paralysis.

It was just a horrible tragedy and it seems like one of those freak things that just happen. Later, the controller of New York City, a guy named Scott Stringer, he started analyzing the claims that had been paid out by the city to settle lawsuits. So this engineer I talked about had settled a claim for $11 million from his injuries.

It was just a horrible tragedy and it seems like one of those freak things that just happen. Later, the controller of New York City, a guy named Scott Stringer, he started analyzing the claims that had been paid out by the city to settle lawsuits. So this engineer I talked about had settled a claim for $11 million from his injuries.

It was just a horrible tragedy and it seems like one of those freak things that just happen. Later, the controller of New York City, a guy named Scott Stringer, he started analyzing the claims that had been paid out by the city to settle lawsuits. So this engineer I talked about had settled a claim for $11 million from his injuries.

What Stringer discovered was there were actually a bunch of settlements from falling branches. And so Stringer was thinking, well, what in the world? And he began to dig around, come to find out that the city's pruning budget had been cut in previous years in an effort to save money. And so here you've got an interesting side effect, right?

What Stringer discovered was there were actually a bunch of settlements from falling branches. And so Stringer was thinking, well, what in the world? And he began to dig around, come to find out that the city's pruning budget had been cut in previous years in an effort to save money. And so here you've got an interesting side effect, right?

What Stringer discovered was there were actually a bunch of settlements from falling branches. And so Stringer was thinking, well, what in the world? And he began to dig around, come to find out that the city's pruning budget had been cut in previous years in an effort to save money. And so here you've got an interesting side effect, right?

From within the silo of the parks department, what's the presenting problem? The problem is we gotta cut our budget. They think, okay, we've got too much money in the pruning budget, we can cut back there. From their perspective within that part of the system, it all looked good. They did save the money. But then what they weren't seeing

From within the silo of the parks department, what's the presenting problem? The problem is we gotta cut our budget. They think, okay, we've got too much money in the pruning budget, we can cut back there. From their perspective within that part of the system, it all looked good. They did save the money. But then what they weren't seeing

From within the silo of the parks department, what's the presenting problem? The problem is we gotta cut our budget. They think, okay, we've got too much money in the pruning budget, we can cut back there. From their perspective within that part of the system, it all looked good. They did save the money. But then what they weren't seeing

was that the side effect of that was they're not pruning these old dead branches. The dead branches are falling. They're hurting people. And as one of Scott Stringer's colleagues said, whatever money we thought we were saving on the maintenance side, we were just paying right out on the lawsuit side. So Stringer's office starts mapping out the nature of these claims they're paying.

was that the side effect of that was they're not pruning these old dead branches. The dead branches are falling. They're hurting people. And as one of Scott Stringer's colleagues said, whatever money we thought we were saving on the maintenance side, we were just paying right out on the lawsuit side. So Stringer's office starts mapping out the nature of these claims they're paying.

was that the side effect of that was they're not pruning these old dead branches. The dead branches are falling. They're hurting people. And as one of Scott Stringer's colleagues said, whatever money we thought we were saving on the maintenance side, we were just paying right out on the lawsuit side. So Stringer's office starts mapping out the nature of these claims they're paying.

They created a program called Claimstat where they mapped and indexed the tens of thousands of annual claims made against the city And they start finding these just remarkable patterns. They found there was one swing on a playground in Brooklyn that had been responsible for multiple lawsuits.

They created a program called Claimstat where they mapped and indexed the tens of thousands of annual claims made against the city And they start finding these just remarkable patterns. They found there was one swing on a playground in Brooklyn that had been responsible for multiple lawsuits.

They created a program called Claimstat where they mapped and indexed the tens of thousands of annual claims made against the city And they start finding these just remarkable patterns. They found there was one swing on a playground in Brooklyn that had been responsible for multiple lawsuits.

All somebody needed to do was go out and raise this swing six inches and all of the injuries would have been eliminated. But nobody thought to do that. Nobody could see it. And so that's part of the challenge is when we get involved in these complex systems, we can't just focus on the part. We can't just obsess on the fact that, okay, parks needs to save money, we'll cut money from within parks.

All somebody needed to do was go out and raise this swing six inches and all of the injuries would have been eliminated. But nobody thought to do that. Nobody could see it. And so that's part of the challenge is when we get involved in these complex systems, we can't just focus on the part. We can't just obsess on the fact that, okay, parks needs to save money, we'll cut money from within parks.

All somebody needed to do was go out and raise this swing six inches and all of the injuries would have been eliminated. But nobody thought to do that. Nobody could see it. And so that's part of the challenge is when we get involved in these complex systems, we can't just focus on the part. We can't just obsess on the fact that, okay, parks needs to save money, we'll cut money from within parks.