It’s always good to be able to solve a problem, but it’s often far better to help make the problem crystal clear before you try to solve it.
I was recently watching the excellent movie “Moneyball”, and this scene shows exactly what I’m talking about:
The scouts are all trying to solve the problem and “we all understand what the problem is”, but they’re all on very different pages. As Dan Roam said (via “The Personal MBA“):
“Whoever best describes the problem is the one most likely to solve it.”
Albert Einstein said it like this (via “Inspired Every Day“):
“If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend fifty-nine minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”
Problem solving is a fantastic skill, but it only works if you have a clearly-defined problem to start from.
