Book excerpt: We live in an ever-modifying world, where people with different interests and goals have to deal with a constantly changing future. Problem solving is a daily experience for everyone. But, especially when problems become highly complex, how does one achieve the best solution to a problem? How are the different insights and interests of those involved included in the problem solving? How is a desired future outcome reached? People are best motivated to act upon complex problems when the essence of the problem is captured in a simple way. This book presents new and practical techniques to do so. Applying these techniques will help the reader to understand and oversee a problem and, eventually, to make decisions and act in situations in which it is not at all obvious what to do. The techniques in this second edition of Solving Complex Problems cover rational problem analysis, creative idea generation, dealing with uncertainty, and comparing different possible solutions. [Subject: Public Administration, Business Management, Sales and Marketing]