How to Solve Problems Before They Happen

We celebrate the heroes who save the day, but what about all the people who keep the day from needing to be saved? In his new book, Upstream, New York Times–bestselling author Dan Heath teaches us ways to prevent and fix problems before they become problems. And in this conversation with Elise Loehnen, he tells us about times when upstream thinking has solved issues ranging from homelessness to poor graduation rates to mundane marital arguments. They examine how little tweaks in a big system can create massive change and why personalizing a systemic problem can make it more manageable. “We adapt to things so easily that we often adapt to problems that we never had to endure in the first place,” says Heath. But with more upstream thinking, we can save our endurance.