See Think Solve: A Simple Way to Tackle Tough Problems

The main reason problems are hard to solve is that they involve people. People are funny. They don’t always believe the things they say they believe or do the things they say they are going to do. They can act one way in one situation and act completely differently in another situation. No one has ever completely figured this out. We call this the "mystery of human behavior."

The mystery of human behavior shapes almost every problem worth solving. That’s the bad news. But there’s good news too. The mystery of human behavior also helps us see problems in new ways. By paying attention to people, we can discover new aspects of problems that help us solve them more effectively. The nine steps in this book are designed to do just that. They will help you make sense of the mystery of human behavior that surrounds all tough problems.

The first six steps are about seeing — each of them shows you a new thing to look for in human behavior. The next two steps are about thinking — each one is a tool you can use to better understand the human behaviors you have observed. The last step is about solving — it describes what you can accomplish with your newfound knowledge.

Here's what professionals and educators have said:

"It has provided our team with the courage to ask the questions that lead to breakthroughs, new opportunities to stretch creatively in response to complex problems and the shared language necessary to move quickly."

"I find this tool and framework one of the most powerful ones I've ever seen -- if not THE most powerful one."

"I would recommend this process for people who are trying to address big problems and are willing to take a step back, remove their biases, and think critically about the problem they are really trying to solve. The process helped us to get the group on the same page and develop a common language to discuss the norms we are trying to disrupt."

• Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs
• Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers (Columbia Business School Publishing)
• The Designing for Growth Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide (Columbia Business School Publishing)
• Designing and Managing Programs: An Effectiveness-Based Approach (SAGE Sourcebooks for the Human Services)
• Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation
• inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity
• Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making (Third Edition)
• Rippling: How Social Entrepreneurs Spread Innovation Throughout the World
• Winning Grants Step by Step: The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing and Writing Successful Proposals
• The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility" (Incerto)