“The greatest intellectual discovery of this generation is that the real cause of problems is solutions.” Eric Sevareid.
- Prohibition (1920-1933) helped organized crime develop.
- Social media was supposed to strengthen connections.
- Overuse of antibiotics leads to superbugs.
- Email causes inefficiencies.
Overcome the danger of solutions:
#1. Walk around the problem:
Three blind men come across an elephant.
The first man happens upon its leg and says it’s a tree.
The second man bumps into its trunk and shouts it’s a snake.
The last blind man feels its tail and exclaims it’s a broom.
When problems are elephants, walk around before trying to solve them.
#2. Avoid anchoring bias.
“… we can be blind to the obvious and we are also blind to our blindness.” Daniel Kahneman
- Walk around the elephant with others. Ask them to define the problem.
- Ask, “What problem are you solving,” when someone brings you a solution.
- Ask, “What are we missing?”
- Use the Five Whys approach.
- Why? – The battery is dead.
- Why? – The alternator is not functioning.
- Why? – The alternator belt has broken.
- Why? – The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced.
- Why? – The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule. (Root cause)
“Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.” Kahneman
#3. Confront confirmation bias.
You’re a genius in your own mind. You don’t have stupid ideas intentionally. We search for reasons we’re right not for reasons we’re wrong.
- Ask, “What if I’m wrong?”
- Explore assumptions. What do you assume will happen if you implement your solution? What needs to be true for your solution to work?
- Sleep on it.
- Develop three solutions before choosing one.
How might solutions cause problems for leaders?
Still curious:
5 Things to Do When Pedaling Faster Doesn’t Work
John David Mann and I invite you to checkout our new book, The Vagrant: The Inner Journey of Leadership.
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This post was previously published on Leadership Freak with a Creative Commons License.
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Photo credit: iStock
