Upstream: How to solve problems before they happen

by Dan Heath

Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

You can’t solve a problem that you can’t see, or one that you perceive as a regrettable but inevitable condition of life.

What harms do we accept that we’re capable of changing?

The postmortem for a problem can be the preamble to a solution.

When you get close to a problem, what exactly are you looking for? How do you know a promising lever and fulcrum when you spot it? In searching for a viable leverage point, your first pass might be to consider, as the leaders in Iceland did, the risk and protective factors for the problem you’re trying to prevent.

Getting short-term measures right is frustratingly complex. And it’s critical.

You can’t help a thousand people, or a million, until you understand how to help one.

These should be our heroes, too: The people who are unsatisfied with normal. People who clamor for better.