#591: Solve Problems Before They Become Problems

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2020

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

So often in life, we get stuck in a cycle of reaction. We tackle the most urgent tasks. We deal with emergencies. We put out fires. We intuitively know we'd be better off if we figured out a way to be more proactive rather than reactive, thereby preventing fires from starting in the first place, but we can't seem to switch our approach. My guest today explores why that is and what we can do to start solving the problems of business, life, and society before they become problems. His name is Dan Heath and today we talk about his latest book, Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen. We begin our conversation discussing the issues that keep us from nipping problems in the bud, including problem blindness, lack of ownership, and "tunneling." Along the way Dan shares insights into how to overcome those roadblocks. We then shift gears and explore how to find the best upstream solutions to problems, which requires getting as close as possible to the problem, while also being able to survey the system it's embedded in from a bird's eye view. Dan explains the principles at play with plenty of real-life examples of how these tactics were used to effectively tackle big, seemingly intractable social problems. Lots of great insights that you can apply to solving problems in your personal life, business, and community. Get the show notes at aom.is/upstream.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Brat McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:10.8	So often in life we get stuck in a cycle of reaction.
0:13.6	Tackle the most urgent task, we deal with emergencies and we put out fires.
0:17.0	We in Tudolvi know, we'd be better off, we'd figure out a way to be more proactive rather
0:20.6	than reactive, thereby preventing fires from starting in the first place, but we can't
0:24.2	seem to switch our approach.
0:25.7	My guest day, explores why that is, and what we can do to start solving the problems of business
0:29.6	life and society before they become problems.
0:32.0	His name is Dan Heath, today we talk about his latest book, Upstream, The Quest to Solve
0:35.8	Problems Before They Happen.
0:36.8	We'll be in our conversation discussing the issues that keep us from nipping problems
0:40.0	in the bud, including problem blindness, lack of ownership and tunneling.
0:43.7	Along the way, Dan shares insights on how to overcome these roadblocks, we then shift
0:47.3	gears and explore how to find the best upstream solutions to problems, which requires getting
0:51.4	as close as possible to the problem while also being able to survey the system it's embedded
0:55.2	in from a bird's eye view.
0:56.7	Dan explains the principles that play with plenty of real life examples of how these tactics
1:00.3	were used to effectively tackle big, seemingly intractable social problems.
1:04.2	Lots of great insights that you can apply to solving problems in your personal life,
1:07.2	business and community, after the show's over, check out our show notes at a-wim.is-upstream.
1:23.4	Alright Dan Heath, welcome to the show.
1:25.1	Hey thanks Brett, glad to be here.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Art of Manliness, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Art of Manliness and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.