Stop smoking, to prevent lung cancer, and the risks of heart disease, ulcers, and even impotence fall as well. The same actions which stop the spread of AIDS will stop the spread of other viruses, including one which causes jaundice. All this applies to management in general, not just the management of health. Often these are introduced with enthusiasm, flourish for a while, and then collapse. Change to a single supplier, for example, and benefits spread throughout the system.
Some effects are predictable, but there are usually pleasant surprises.
For example, when raw materials are less variable it becomes easier to see where a process is going wrong. The most important lesson is that in management, as in health, we too easily become wrapped up in coping with problems, or even solving problems, without stopping to wonder why the problems exist at all. Immediate pressures and management struc- tures strengthen the grip of short term thinking. The manager who is good in a crisis is successful in a highly visible way. The manager who transforms the system makes things easy for others, and makes the company many times more profitable.