The Problem with Problem Solving

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By Randy Gage in Critical Thinking, Prosperity, Success.

If you charge your team with solving a problem, you shouldn’t be surprised to discover later that they have been looking backward. Problem solving in and of itself is inherently backwards-looking.

The same thing holds true if you’re instructing your team to solve a puzzle. Jigsaw puzzles work because all the pieces are in the box when you buy them; all you have to do is figure out where to place each piece.

However, the challenges you and your business are about to face in the next decade don’t have all the necessary puzzle pieces in the box. So if we’re going to use the puzzle analogy here, we have to change the rules. Now your job is to use all the puzzle pieces that came in the box, see where they fit, then fill the remaining space by creating some new puzzle pieces in that 3D printer called your brain.

When you empower your team to create a possibility, a whole different, forward-looking perspective is created. What we’re really talking about is your ability to see the intangible. That’s what Steve Jobs and Apple did with the iPad. The iPad didn’t really solve a problem and no one was asking for it. But Apple created a possibility: a product that as soon as people saw, they wanted to have it.

That’s your job. See the intangible. Know what your clients, customers or prospects want — before they even know it themselves.

You get wealthy by solving problems and adding value. But the greatest wealth is created when you see possibilities. That’s why I wrote Mad Genius. To help you think in possibilities.

-RG

Tags: abundance, goals, success training, Mad Genius

Originally published at www.randygage.com on December 31, 2015.