---
title: "Places to intervene in a system"
description: "Twelve leverage points ranked from weakest to strongest."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/places-to-intervene-in-a-system/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Places to intervene in a system

> Twelve leverage points ranked from weakest to strongest.

Donella Meadows's framework, from Thinking in Systems, pp. 166 to 209.

Framework 6 of 7 from [Thinking in Systems](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/index.md) by Donella Meadows. Category: Leadership.

## The steps

1. **12. Numbers.** Constants and parameters such as subsidies, taxes and standards.
2. **11. Buffers.** The sizes of stabilising stocks relative to their flows.
3. **10. Stock-and-flow structures.** Physical systems and their nodes of intersection.
4. **9. Delays.** The lengths of time relative to the rates of system change.
5. **8. Balancing feedback loops.** The strength of the feedbacks relative to the impacts they correct.
6. **7. Reinforcing feedback loops.** The strength of the gain of driving loops.
7. **6. Information flows.** Who does and does not have access to information.
8. **5. Rules.** Incentives, punishments and constraints.
9. **4. Self-organization.** The power to add, change or evolve system structure.
10. **3. Goals.** The purpose or function of the system.
11. **2. Paradigms.** The mind-set out of which the system arises.
12. **1. Transcending paradigms.** Staying unattached to any one worldview.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: Part Three: Creating Change - in Systems and in Our Philosophy, pp. 166–209

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/places-to-intervene-in-a-system.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/places-to-intervene-in-a-system-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/places-to-intervene-in-a-system.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/thinking-in-systems/places-to-intervene-in-a-system-dark.png