New York Times best-selling author Dan Heath asks what happens when we take our thinking upstream and try to prevent problems before they happen.

We all have a tendency to work around problems. We are resourceful. We improvise. We’re so accustomed to managing emergencies as they strike that we often don’t stop to think about how we could prevent crises before they happen. Why 'solve' crimes when we could stop them being committed? Why treat chronic diseases when they could be prevented from developing? Why provide shelter for the homeless rather than working to keep people housed in the first place? Why do our efforts skew so heavily towards reaction rather than prevention?

The notion of preventing problems is an evergreen need in our professional and daily lives. Which makes Upstream a book for skeptical optimists - across all sectors - who know it's not going to be easy, but who believe that we have the capacity to solve some of our thorniest issues, if only we start to think about the system rather than the symptoms. Drawing on insights from Dan Heath's extensive research, as well as hundreds of new interviews with unconventional problem solvers, he delivers practical solutions for preventing problems rather than simply reacting to them.

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Product details

Listening Length	7 hours and 46 minutes
Author	Dan Heath
Narrator	Dan Heath
Audible.in Release Date	05 March 2020
Publisher	Penguin Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B082FM56GJ
Best Sellers Rank	#692 in Audible Audiobooks & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Audiobooks & Originals) #17 in Forecasting & Strategic Planning #28 in Business Motivation & Self-Improvement #1,107 in Analysis & Strategy

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Alok Kejriwal

A must read. Super

Reviewed in India on 12 April 2020

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Upstream - Book review.

A fascinating book. While reading it, I thought it wobbled a bit in the middle, but picked up well & ended with deep learnings.

This is why you MUST get this book:

- It's a nice & light read vs many of the heavy books I recommend 🙂

- The principal concept is to investigate, act, think AHEAD of occurrences.

- Ask "Why do these things happen" vs "Oh, that's the way it is. (The Expedia example is brilliant).

- Why solutions need to VERY carefully thought of. The "Cobra Effect" case is stunning.

- So many real-life cases of how careful study & planning has WORKED. The example of the Katrina Disaster Management plan deserves a standing applause.

- I learned a great productivity trick! It is to “score" meetings.

- The Boston Sidewalk repairs case is brilliant.

- How the concept of Upstream applies to Spam-Mails, Mentoring young mothers, handling student-teacher relationships and more.

- The Carpet Entrepreneur's moment of truth is stunning and scary 🙂 It's inspiring how the entrepreneur pivots!

- It's a solid, productive, self-help Book.

11 people found this helpful

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Ashok T

A great read

Reviewed in India on 7 December 2020

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As a person who strives to be efficient & effective, I loved this book.

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Cyril Danthi

Proactive Approach

Reviewed in India on 22 June 2020

One of the Top 3 skills that organizations look for during hiring is Critical Problem Solving Skills, as per the World Economic Forum. People are employed in the organization to resolve problems.
The author prescribes Upstream and Downstream for resolving the problems. Upstream is to identify the problems before it occurs – in normal terms we could say it’s about Proactive way of identifying the problem and resolving. Downstream is once the problem is occurred, it is resolved. The upstream focuses on the early warning sings, use of system thinking, and directions. In case of Downstream is about reacting, where a hero resolves the problem.

Hurdle for the upstream thinking

Problem Blindness: This occurs when we believe that it is normal - Story of the Sexual Harassment case in 1975.
Lack of Ownership: The author narrates a story of car seat belt
Tunneling: The story of how a nurse solved a problem every 90 min in average

Thought Provoking for Upstream:

How will you unite right people - Surround the problem, use data for learning?
How will you change the system - Look for the system change
Where can you find a point of leverage – Start with target a small population, event and data set etc.
How will you get early warning of the problem – Look for the historical patterns to inform your predictions, maneuvering etc.
How will you know what you’re succeeding - Use of paired measure
Who will pay for what does not happen – Create closed feedback loops to continuously improve.

Helpful

Splendid drag

Reviewed in India on 30 June 2020

Escapist anecdotes, dull case studies that meanders and leads to occasional nugget of insight. The book could be condensed into a 2 page HBR article.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Craig Millar

An inspiring guide to spending your life preventing problems rather than reacting to them.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2020

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The chapter on the challenges of seemingly distant problems takes on a new level of importance given the current Covid-19 pandemic!

As per previous Heath Brother books, there are loads of great stories. The author introduces characters doing work that is often not glamorous or well financially rewarded, but nonetheless incredibly important.
Some insightful examples that stuck in my head are:
- The story of why the travel website Expedia got to 20 million people calling them up for their itinerary before they started to take positive action
- The story of the school that drastically reduced drop out rates by letting go of a flawed tough-love approach.
And the fascinating story of how some nations have allowed their rate of C-section births to the level it has become a health problem.
To mess with a quote from Henry Thoreau, do we want to spend our time hacking away at the leaves of a problem or do you want to be someone striking at its root?

Overall, the idea that resonated with me the most is that you can’t help a thousand people until you understand how to help one. And the best way to do that is to see the problem up close so that you really understand it. To have a big impact, we need to start small.

3 people found this helpful

Ravi

Great read and really inspirational

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 March 2020

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I am an upstream person myself and have been for tr last 3 to 4 years trying to think of good upstream ideas in my small niche within healthcare to influence and network and find levers and in general do the things that Dan talks about. I can attest to the fact that it is a good way forward and I now have some good case histories and stories and parables to emulate and quote for my future upstream efforts so well done. Timely book

One person found this helpful

Mindstep

Another fabulous book from a Heath brother

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 March 2020

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My rating is for the insightful thinking and inspiration I've gained from this book, however I find it a shame it was not published and read by the current leader of the free world in advance of the current pandemic, if it had and the information within been acted upon, much of the US crisis may have been averted. Thank you Dan.

2 people found this helpful

Jules

An excellent concept

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 December 2020

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An excellent concept and highly readable, this is filled with practical examples, but at times a little overwhelming in number.

It is instantly engaging and highly thought-provoking, and I am applying the thinking already in my life and recommend this to anyone looking to break out of the rut and ride on the road above.

bret hart

Ignore this book at your peril. Everyone's future depends on solving problems that begin upstream.

Reviewed in Australia on 24 December 2020

Verified Purchase

I wish I had read this book decades ago before I embarked on a career in medicine which contributes 10% to the health of the population with 98% of 'health budgets' allocated to downstream healthcare. Upstream is where the 90% of determinants of health are located and yet this is ignored. Dan has illuminated this fact and provided a framework to tackle what might seem overwhelming wicked problems. His narrative skills make this a fascinating read which is distinctly lacking in academic texts. It should be required reading for all medical students, nurses, healthcare professionals, policy makers, funders of all human services, business managers, politicians... I could go on to include everyone in fact.

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