Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen

by Dan Heath

a whole bunch of balls simultaneously.”

And that’s why the health care system was so poorly positioned to close the gap.

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

The tools he had been trained to use,

were inadequate to address the problem.

How do you remake a system that’s hope...

With tremendous effort and support, individuals can transcend bad neighborhoods.

Systems are machines that determine probabilities.

the probabilities are overwhelmingly in your favor. It’s like playing a game of roulette where you win if you hit red—and you win if you hit black.

Upstream work is about reducing the probability that problems will happen, and for that reason, the work must culminate in systems change.

Because systems are the source of those probabilities. To change the system is to change the rules that govern us or the culture that influences us.

‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’ ”

As mentioned a few chapters back, parenting is a rare exception where upstream thinking comes naturally.

What would the world look like if we extended half of the same concern to our neighbors’ kids and their futures?

The tragedy of so much work in the social sector is that leaders tacitly accept the flawed system that begets their work.

But they shouldn’t just wish for that future, they should push for it.

Part of every social-sector organization’s mission should be to push upstream.

To prevent wounds as well as bandage them; to eliminate injustices as well as assisting

those who suffer...

Systems change is important within organizations as well as outside them.

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

But good intentions can’t overcome bad systems.

The solutions to these problems are systemic, not personal.

Systems change starts with a spark of courage.

The endgame is to eliminate the need for courage, to render it unnecessary, because it has forced change within the system.

Success comes when the right things happen by

default—not because of individual passi...

Success comes when the odds h...

Greater power leads to policy victories, which leads to a better environment.

“The law is just a set of rules based on inputs from power sources,”

“If you want to change the rules, you’ve got to change the power inputs so that the outcome will be different.”

On whatever scale we work—in

systems change takes time.