Wicked Problems, Workable Solutions: Lessons from a Public Life

After five decades of studying how Americans respond to public issues, Daniel Yankelovich presents a strategy to nurture the greater public wisdom necessary for modern society to confront its most wicked problems. Having been an advisor to major corporations and influential media, business and government organizations, Yankelovich is a leading public opinion expert who has had a long career studying, questioning, and reporting on national issues, trends, and opinions. Stagnant incomes, blocked social mobility, political polarization, dysfunctional educational, criminal, and health care systems and global instability plague the welfare of not only the United States, but also the entire world. By instituting a few powerful innovations we can revolutionize today’s inattentive public into a thoughtful, action-oriented populous. Yankelovich shares the philosophical foundation of his successful career and revisits some of his breakthrough experiences, drawing insightful conclusions applicable to our current condition. Full of stories of how destinies can change when people abandon ingrained, unproductive thinking habits, Wicked Problems, Workable Solutions lays out a pragmatic design to reboot democracy and lead our society forward into a more promising future.