When success is silent and failures are loud | Conversation with Paulius Kibiša | Blind Spot #7

SUMMARY

When it comes to change — just like crises — we mostly hear about the failures. Avoided crises go untold, and successful transformations are treated as something obvious. By learning only from mistakes, we learn what not to do, while the things that actually work stay out of sight.

In 2018, five municipal polyclinics in Kaunas were merged into a single legal entity. Management costs dropped fivefold. Every medical staff position was preserved.

“If a change succeeds, almost no one hears about it,” says Paulius Kibiša, head of the Kaunas City Polyclinic. What would be considered a case-study-worthy project in the private sector becomes nearly invisible in the public sector. Public-sector change is judged differently: not by results, but by reactions. If nobody protests, the assumption is that it wasn’t important. If there’s no conflict, there’s no story.

Guest: Paulius Kibiša – Head of the Kaunas City Polyclinic.