“The problem with solving the wrong problem is that it feels like success until you get to the bottom.“
- Greg McKeown, in edition #143 of the One-Minute Wednesday
If the problem is too clear, look around. It might not be the problem at all. One of my favorite DD lines of all time is by hockey player Dean McAmmond. “I don’t have a concussion problem,” he famously said. “I have a problem with people giving me traumatic blows to the head.”
How do we decide which problem we need to solve? How do we avoid treating the symptom at the expense of the cause of the pain?
A little success can be addictive. My favorite basketball team plays lights-out offense and often pretty pedestrian defense. When the shots aren’t falling, it’s really hard to pivot to stopping the other guys. My favorite football team plays defense better than any other team out there. That said, it’s become difficult to win counting on the defense to score points — even when The “D” manages to put a few points on the board. So, while we might want to get out over our skis on the great offense with the round orange ball, or the phenomenal defense with the pigskin, we’re never quite as far from the bottom as we’d like to be.
Solving the real problem usually begins with recognizing who’s giving us traumatic blows to the head, to use McAmmond’s example. And it usually takes a blended strategy to either avoid the blows or counter them with an attack of our own.
Revenue growth with unchecked costs? Bad math. Expense control so stringent that it limits growth? Different equation, same outcome.
Stepping back, looking around, asking questions — and adjusting course, speed or both — helps us solve the problem we need to solve in the manner that best serves long-term success.
Leave a Reply