Dr. Frieden on the implementation gap

The new director of CDC Tom Frieden spoke in Chapel Hill recently and said something I thought was interesting and provocative about managing in public health. (You can hear part of the talk on YouTube). Here's what he said:

We have an implementation gap. The gap between what we know and what we wish to know is huge. But the gap between what we know and what we do is even larger.

In other words, we need to pay more attention to execution. We know what's important, and for the most part we know what things would need to happen to make a difference in those important areas. So what would it take to change the "what we do" side of the equation? Effective plans that are doable.

--Steve Orton