What's Your Problem?
From a recent Harvard Business Review article sourced below: "In surveys of 106 C-suite executives who represented 91 private and public-sector companies in 17 countries, I found that a full 85% strongly agreed or agreed that their organizations were bad at problem diagnosis, and 87% strongly agreed or agreed that this flaw carried significant costs."
We are all under tremendous pressure to "get it right" so we often quickly assess the situation and jump to solution mode, because after all, time is money. Knowing the problem makes identifying the solution so much easier and effective. Sounds obvious, but I bet most of us are guilty of a rush judgement in the early phases and while we may have a great idea in the end, the results will likely be lackluster.
Yet, a bit more time in the upfront assessing the problem will yield great returns in a solution that is designed to overcome the real issue. For instance, a company was treating a medical condition like a traditional pharma issue. However, insight discovered it was a vanity issue and thus should be positioned more like a beauty brand to a different type of person. Another example is the company that didn't want to lean into the real problem because it was too negative, yet research told us that by doing so we could create a sense of empathy for their current and potential customers. That company is now growing its customer base among a new audience as a result.
Words of wisdom from a pretty smart man: “If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” - Albert Einstein.