Whats Our Problem

From the creator of the wildly popular blog Wait But Why, a fun and fascinating deep dive into what the hell is going on in our strange, unprecedented modern times. Between 2013 and 2016, Tim Urban became one of the world's most popular bloggers, writing dozens of viral, long-form articles about everything from AI to colonizing Mars to procrastination. Then, he turned his attention to a new topic: the society around him. Why was everything such a mess? Why was everyone acting like such a baby? When did things get so tribal? Why do humans do this stuff? This massive topic sent Tim tumbling down his deepest rabbit hole yet, through mountains of history, evolutionary psychology, political theory, neuroscience, and modern-day political movements, as he tried to figure out the answer to a simple question: What's our problem? Six years later, he emerged from the hole holding this book. What's Our Problem? is a deep and expansive analysis of our modern times, in the classic style of Wait But Why, packed with original concepts, sticky metaphors, and 300 drawings. The book provides an entirely new framework and language for thinking and talking about today's complex world. Instead of focusing on the usual left-center-right horizontal political axis, which is all about what we think, the book introduces a vertical axis that explores how we think, as individuals and as groups. Readers will find themselves on a delightful and fascinating journey that will ultimately change the way they see the world around them. Anyway he wanted to say a lot more about all of this but there was a word limit on this book description so just go read the book.

From the creator of the wildly popular blog Wait But Why, a fun and fascinating deep dive into what the hell is going on in our strange, unprecedented modern times. Between 2013 and 2016, Tim Urban became one of the world’s most popular bloggers, writing dozens of viral, long-form articles about everything from AI to colonizing Mars to procrastination. Then, he turned his attention to a new topic: the society around him. Why was everything such a mess? Why was everyone acting like such a baby? When did things get so tribal? Why do humans do this stuff? This massive topic sent Tim tumbling down his deepest rabbit hole yet, through mountains of history, evolutionary psychology, political theory, neuroscience, and modern-day political movements, as he tried to figure out the answer to a simple question: What’s our problem? Six years later, he emerged from the hole holding this book. What’s Our Problem? is a deep and expansive analysis of our modern times, in the classic style of Wait But Why, packed with original concepts, sticky metaphors, and 300 drawings. The book provides an entirely new framework and language for thinking and talking about today’s complex world. Instead of focusing on the usual left-center-right horizontal political axis, which is all about what we think, the book introduces a vertical axis that explores how we think, as individuals and as groups. Readers will find themselves on a delightful and fascinating journey that will ultimately change the way they see the world around them. Anyway he wanted to say a lot more about all of this but there was a word limit on this book description so just go read the book.

Blake wants to sell his brother, Braden, to another family. Savannah wants to fight Mary over an insult. Braden sooo wants to sneak out of class to play kickball. The characters in this fast-paced story face conundrums that make each of them consider solutions that are inappropriate, ill-advised or irresponsible. Fortunately, some good old-fashioned fatherly advice coupled with a tried-and-true strategy for solving problems keeps everyone safe and satisfied. This story introduces and encourages readers to use SODAS (Situation, Options, Disadvantages, Advantages, and Solution) as a way to logically and thoughtfully figure out how to solve any problem, from the silly to the serious. What’s the Problem? adds to the wildly popular Executive FUNction book series, which includes What Were You Thinking? and My Day is Ruined! The series skillfully weaves skill teaching into humorous story-lines to help readers become flexible thinkers, problem solvers and self-managers.

"The author makes a compelling case that we often start solving a problem before thinking deeply about whether we are solving the right problem. If you want the superpower of solving better problems, read this book." -- Eric Schmidt, former CEO, Google Are you solving the right problems? Have you or your colleagues ever worked hard on something, only to find out you were focusing on the wrong problem entirely? Most people have. In a survey, 85 percent of companies said they often struggle to solve the right problems. The consequences are severe: Leaders fight the wrong strategic battles. Teams spend their energy on low-impact work. Startups build products that nobody wants. Organizations implement "solutions" that somehow make things worse, not better. Everywhere you look, the waste is staggering. As Peter Drucker pointed out, there's nothing more dangerous than the right answer to the wrong question. There is a way to do better. The key is reframing, a crucial, underutilized skill that you can master with the help of this book. Using real-world stories and unforgettable examples like "the slow elevator problem," author Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg offers a simple, three-step method - Frame, Reframe, Move Forward - that anyone can use to start solving the right problems. Reframing is not difficult to learn. It can be used on everyday challenges and on the biggest, trickiest problems you face. In this visually engaging, deeply researched book, you’ll learn from leaders at large companies, from entrepreneurs, consultants, nonprofit leaders, and many other breakthrough thinkers. It's time for everyone to stop barking up the wrong trees. Teach yourself and your team to reframe, and growth and success will follow.

This is the story of a persistent problem and the child who isn't so sure what to make of it. The longer the problem is avoided, the bigger it seems to get. But when the child finally musters up the courage to face it, the problem turns out to be something quite different than it appeared. What Do You Do With a Problem? is a story for anyone, at any age, who has ever had a problem that they wished would go away. It's a story to inspire you to look closely at that problem and to find out why it's here. Because you might discover something amazing about your problem... and yourself.

The #1 international bestselling author of The Gray Rhino offers a bold new framework for understanding and re-shaping our relationship with risk and uncertainty to live more productive and successful lives. What drives a sixty-four-year-old woman to hurl herself over Niagara Falls in a barrel? Why do we often create bigger risks than the risks we try to avoid? Why are corporate boards newly worried about risky personal behavior by CEOs? Why are some nations quicker than others to recognize and manage risks like pandemics, technological change, and climate crisis? The answers define each person, organization, and society as distinctively as a fingerprint. Understanding the often-surprising origins of these risk fingerprints can open your eyes, inspire new habits, catalyze innovation and creativity, improve teamwork, and provide a beacon in a world that seems suddenly more uncertain than ever. How you see risk and what you do about it depend on your personality and experiences. How you make these cost-benefit calculations depend on your culture, your values, the people in the room, and even unexpected things like what you’ve eaten recently, the temperature, the music playing, or the fragrance in the air. Being alert to these often-unconscious influences will help you to seize opportunity and avoid danger. You Are What You Risk is a clarion call for an entirely new conversation about our relationship with risk and uncertainty. In this ground-breaking, accessible and eminently timely book, Michele Wucker examines why it’s so important to understand your risk fingerprint and how to make your risk relationship work better in business, life, and the world. Drawing on compelling risk stories around the world and weaving in economics, anthropology, sociology, and psychology research, Wucker bridges the divide between professional and lay risk conversations. She challenges stereotypes about risk attitudes, re-frames how gender and risk are related, and shines new light on generational differences. She shows how the new science of “risk personality” is re-shaping business and finance, how healthy risk ecosystems support economies and societies, and why embracing risk empathy can resolve conflicts. Wucker shares insights, practical tools, and proven strategies that will help you to understand what makes you who you are –and, in turn, to make better choices, both big and small.

"What's the Question?" offers a practical approach and powerful tools that will help you design a good market research study. When we say "good," we mean a study that produces results that can actually be used as a basis for making marketing decisions. We will show you how a thorough problem analysis beforehand can make the difference between usable and useless research. We describe the search for the true market research problem: the right research questions. The search helps clients better understand what information they really need. We explain step-by-step how to arrive at the right research questions. Then we explain how to choose the methods and techniques that will best serve your purposes to answer these research questions. The book provides a refreshing look at what can and cannot be researched, and which methods are the most appropriate. Misunderstandings are corrected, and myths are debunked. You'll end up with a realistic idea of what you can and cannot achieve with market research. "A problem well stated is a problem half-solved." (Charles Kettering, 1876 - 1958, inventor of such things as the electric starter which is still in use today.) In this book we present a practical approach to setting up market research, using models and tools that can be used in many types of situations. Do not expect a cookbook that will almost always lead to the optimal result if the right amounts of the right ingredients are combined in the right way. Setting up a market research study also requires a dose of creativity and analytic ability. Furthermore, there is more than one way to get the job done. Our approach will help you discover these ways and make a considered choice. "Don't just buy it, but study it thoroughly and then apply it to your own professional practice!" (Prof. Dr. Edward Groenland, Professor of Business Research Methodology, Nyenrode Business University) "This book is about the essence of market research and about how to tackle market research problems." (Wiebe de Ridder, Managing Consultant, USP Marketing Consultancy) For whom is this book? In writing this book, our thinking focused largely on those who are asked to set up and carry out a market research project or have it carried out by others. The book is written from the perspective of the agency researcher who has to make a research proposal. It is, however, not really relevant whether it is written from the perspective of the client or of the research agency because the line of thinking is the same. We assume that a research proposal must be composed. For clients who need to draw up a briefing and for those who help them, this book will provide concrete leads for ways in which the research problem can be structured and for what information is needed. Students who in doing an internship assignment or a graduation project must set up their own research study, often run into difficulties creating the design. Their coursework has dealt with operational elements such as making a questionnaire and selecting the sample, but the analysis of the problem was not dealt with in depth. After some consideration, they come up with a long list of research questions that may be relevant to answer. But choosing the most relevant research questions and then choosing the best methodology to answer them is quite a challenge. Particularly for those students who are dealing with this for the first time, the structured approach we provide in this book will help create clarity about what they actually need to research before they start work on their project.