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Review of Upstream The author wants to convince us that we should move upstream at personal, organizational, national, and international levels. He says that we can and should stop dealing with the symptoms of problems, again and again, and start fixing them instead. I would like to learn to prevent problems. Definition Upstream efforts aim to prevent problems from happening or to systemically reduce the harm caused by those problems while downstream actions react to problems once they have occurred. Downstream efforts are narrow and fast and tangible. Upstream efforts are broader, slower and hazier but they really work when they work which can accomplish massive and long-lasting good. Although upstream solutions are generally more desirable, they are also more complex and ambiguous. 3 barriers to upstream thinking 1. Problem blindness. Problem blindness is best captured in this sentence: “That’s just how it is – so no one questions it”. It can be translated to “I don’t see the problem or the problem is inevitable”. 2. Lack of ownership In essence, this means “that is not mine to fix”. 3. Tunneling It confines us to the short-term, reactive thinking. In the tunnel, the only way is forward. 7 key questions…

Introduction How Spies Think is about how to apply the intelligence analysts’ way of thinking in day-to-day life. He aims to empower people to make better decisions by learning how intelligence analysts think and make people more resilient to manipulation. I am attracted by the title and would like to see if I could improve my decision making skills with this book. Authors David Omand is a British former senior civil servant. He was the first UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator. He served for 7 years on the Joint Intelligence Committee. Other positions that he held include Permanent Secreatary of the Home Office (1997 to 2000) and Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (1996 to 1997). Contents How Spies Think has a total of 11 chapters and an introduction (Why we need these lessons in seeking independence of mind, honesty and integrity). The 11 chapters are divided into 3 parts. Part One is An Analyst Sees: Four Lessons in Ordering Our Thoughts. The 4 chapters here are Lesson 1: Situational awareness. Our knowledge of the world is always fragmentary and incomplete, and is sometimes wrong, Lesson 2: Explanation. Facts need explaining, Lesson 3: Estimations. Predictions need an explanatory model as…