In Leverage Points, Donella Meadow clearly outlines and explains with a range of relatable examples what the 12 ways, in increasing order of effectiveness, are to intervene in a system. With reference to stocks or states of a particular system, she talks about the dynamic between the inflows (stock increasing) and outflows (stock reducing). She also mentions instances when it is easier, more important, and hence better off to physically rebuild an existing system as opposed to designing or conceiving a new one.

With respect to mindsets, one might easily assume that changing people’s outlook on important matters is a hard-to-achieve task and hence has to be ranked much lower than the other modes. Meadow, however, argues that since this given task is not slow, cumbersome or even costly, it is valuable and of high priority. On the other hand, the ability to be open-minded and have the power to ‘transcend paradigms’ is ultimate. Changing a paradigm is like flipping a switch for a ‘new way of seeing’. This can be done either on a public level, or even on a personal scale with friends re-educating friends, spreading awareness about a particular issue to insight a radically new or, in many cases, opposite perspective.

This also connects to another point made by Meadow that certain single players have the power to alter a system’s goal by rallying flocks of sensible people to the other side. A great example of this is celebrity endorsements. They capture attention, drastically increase brand awareness and boost sales, while sometimes even instigating an otherwise brand-loyal consumer to switch to the competition. With the rising popularity of influencers on social media for product promotion to, quite simply put, ‘generate buzz’, we might question who has access to these resources? In this case, famous people are the resources. Small and local businesses  would be at a loss as they would definitely not be able to reap the benefits of this ‘celebrity effect’, the potential of famous people to influence others.

According to Meadow, most of the ‘leverage points’ can be applied to short-term projects and small-scale systems, not just large complex ones. Can they be generalised? The proposed 12-point list is put forth like an absolute or universal formula, that can be plugged in anytime, anywhere, with anybody (since the author says that players don’t matter and it’s the system they fit into that does). In today’s context, wouldn’t the many interventions depend on numerous other factors, such as regional, social, monetary, industry, legal, population etc, requiring in-depth research and study, both primary and secondary? Who is responsible for carrying out this? More importantly, with Leverage Points being over two decades old, we must examine the hierarchy of the 12 points. Is it still relevant and necessary? Wouldn’t they significantly depend on what systems we are designing, altering or intervening?

Ideas Arrangements Effects by Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI) advocates for a multidirectional, compelling approach of how ideas are planted into arrangements. These arrangements then result in effects. This core idea forms the lens through which we see and perceive, and can be largely dependent on social constructs, past experiences and mindsets. These various factors in turn inform how systems are designed.