There is a fundamental mismatch between the nature of reality in complex systems and our predominant way of thinking about the reality. Systems thinking shows that small, well-focused actions can sometimes produce significant, enduring improvements, if they are in the right place. There are no simple rules for finding high-leverage changes, but there are ways of thinking that make it more likely. Next month, it may be true that we must choose one or the other, but the real leverage lies in seeing how both can improve over time. Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants.
Living systems have integrity.
Their character depends on the whole. The key principle here is that the interactions that must be examined are those most important to the issue at hand, regardless of parochial organizational boundaries. There is no blame. Systems thinking assumes that there is no outside circumstance to blame for your problems, that you and the cause of your problems are part of a single system. Learning to expand our personal capacity to create results we most desire and creating an organizational environment which encourages all its members to develop themselves toward goals and purposes they choose.