Meadows Leverage Points

Interventions Wheel

The wheel organizes interventions by leverage. The goal is not merely to tweak parameters but to choose the most effective depth of intervention for the problem at hand. Read from the outside in and click a ring to see details and fitting interventions.

Interventions are deliberate changes to structures, rules, information flows, or goals in order to shift system behavior sustainably.

Model basis: Donella H. Meadows, Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System (1999).

Further reading: Interventions index · Concepts Feedback Loops · Concepts Delays · Concepts Stocks and Bottlenecks · Methodology

Legend:ParametersStructureInformationRulesGoalsParadigm

Outer levels contain interventions with faster but limited impact. Inner levels contain deeper levers that reshape rules, goals, and paradigms and therefore create more durable change.

Choose a level

Click a ring in the wheel to inspect leverage strength, typical examples, and matching interventions.

Intervention mapping by leverage strength

All 12 levels from outside to inside. Open a level to compare its related interventions quickly.

Choose a level

Intervention mapping by leverage strength

Level 12: Constants, parameters, numbers1

Level 11: Buffer sizes12

Level 10: Stock and flow structures1

Level 9: Delays1

Level 8: Balancing feedback loops2

Level 7: Reinforcing feedback loops0

Level 6: Information flows1

Level 5: Rules of the system2

Level 4: Power to self-organize1

Level 3: Goals of the system1

Level 2: Paradigm of the system1

Level 1: Power to transcend paradigms0