Page 266 - The Power to Change Anything

Become an Influencer 255

of a variety of preventable human errors. Berwick and his team
set out to prevent these errors. That meant that they’d have to
find a way to both enable and motivate health-care profession-
als to act in new ways.
As you might imagine, when Dr. Berwick and his col-
leagues started their campaign, some people in the health-care
system were unconscious of how their own actions might be
contributing to harm. Even those who were conscious of the
dangers lurking in their systems were often incapable of build-
ing the influence strategies necessary to bring about profound
and lasting change.
Fortunately, Berwick and his staff stuck with their campaign
until they learned exactly what it would take to change deeply
entrenched behavior. During the 100,000 lives campaign,
3,100 hospitals reduced total in-patient deaths by an estimated
122,000 over eighteen months. Today Berwick and his team
are working on a 5 million lives campaign. Imagine the grief
they’ll be preventing and the joy they’ll be bringing to the
world. They’re taking on a target that’s 50 times larger than
their original goal because they now know a great deal more
about exerting influence.
For one final update, let’s head to sub-Saharan Africa. For
several decades well-intended anthropologists and health-care
specialists did their best to encourage locals to read their worm
brochures or attend their lectures or simply to follow their
heartfelt advice. If the villagers would only listen to their ideas,
they could rid themselves of the dreaded Guinea worm disease.
But alas, few followed their advice, and the ugly scourge
plagued tens of millions.
Enter Dr. Donald Hopkins and other influence masters
from The Carter Center. Since the beginning of their cam-
paign to eradicate Guinea worm disease, this small team of
change agents has reduced the level of Guinea worm cases by
99.7 percent, completely eradicating the disease from 11 of the
20 endemic countries it originally targeted. The team is on