In his new book Reset, author Dan Heath outlines a two-part strategy that can help you or your organization change how you work. The first action is to “find leverage points” — places where a small effort can yield a large return.
Heath likens change to trying to move a giant boulder, but finding the right spot to intervene can make that task possible. To identify leverage points, consider one of five actions:
- Go and see the work — Shadow the process and follow the workflow to identify bottlenecks
- Consider the goal of the goal — Be open-minded to alternate strategies to achieve your goal
- Study the bright spots — Find what’s working and replicate that
- Target the constraint — Fix your #1 trouble spot, then continuously fix your next #1 spot
- Map the system — Gather people who can outline how the interdependent process works
In typical Heath fashion, the book is full of actionable steps that illustrate the points and make the strategies seem imminently manageable, including stories from a school, government office, market research firm, restaurant drive-thru, and radiology clinic, which all identified leverage points that substantially improved their outcomes.
Initiating a change effort can often feel so overwhelming. Instead of seeing big problems without a solution, think about using one of these tools to find small places where your effort can catalyze progress and create momentum.
Source: Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working, by Dan Heath, 2025
