Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg - Whats Your Problem? To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve

The author makes a compelling case that we often start solving a problem before thinking deeply about whether we are solving the right problem. If you want the superpower of solving better problems, read this book.

Eric Schmidt, former CEO, Google

Whatever problems youre facing, this book is going to transform the way you solve them. Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg is an exceptionally lucid thinker and writer, and he has just raised the bar for practical wisdom. His framework wont just help you generate more creative ideas and make smarter decisionsit will teach you to see around corners.

Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author, Originals and Give and Take ; host, TED WorkLife podcast

This unexpectedly engaging book is as practical as it is wise. Wedell-Wedellsborg shows us how to take off the cognitive and cultural blinders that prevent us from solving tough problems in our organizations and in our lives, and even makes it sound like fun.

Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School; author, The Fearless Organization

Problem solving underpins strategy, management, and leadership, yet few business people receive any formal training in it. Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg has created a practical and accessible manual for how to frame and reframe problems, which should be very valuable to anyone engaged in business or government.

Martin Reeves, Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group; Chairman, BCG Henderson Institute

Every once in a while, I read a book that makes me slap my forehead and ask, Why in the world havent I been doing this? It was a particularly hard slap after reading Whats Your Problem? a book that provides you, quite literally, with a simple, evidence-based process to be more creative, insightful, and effective in your work every day. It also happens to be a delight to read.

Heidi Grant, author, Nine Things Successful People Do Differently and Reinforcements

Heres our challenge to you: Open this book to any page and start reading. If you dont feel immediately compelled to buy it, your life is a lot more interesting than ours. This book is a joy to read. It brings to mind the awesome power of that rare simplicity found on the far side of complexity. Its the most useful business book weve read in years.

Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, New York Times bestselling coauthors, Difficult Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback

THOMAS WEDELL-WEDELLSBORG

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

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Copyright 2020 Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to , or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wedell-Wedellsborg, Thomas, author.

Title: Whats your problem? : to solve your toughest problems, change the problems you solve / Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg.

Description: Boston : Harvard Business Review Press, [2020] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019041082 (print) | LCCN 2019041083 (ebook) | ISBN 9781633697225 (paperback) | ISBN 9781633697232 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Problem solving. | Organizational effectiveness. | Reframing (Psychotherapy)

Classification: LCC HD30.29 .W434 2020 (print) | LCC HD30.29 (ebook) | DDC 658.4/03dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041082

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041083

ISBN: 978-1-63369-722-5

eISBN: 978-1-63369-723-2

The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives Z39.48-1992.

For Paddy Miller

contents

part one

solve the right problem

introduction

whats your problem?

ARE YOU SOLVING THE RIGHT PROBLEMS?

Well start with a question. Answer it for your team, your workplace, your society, your family, or just yourself:

How much do we wastetime, money, energy, even livesby solving the wrong problems?

I have posed this question to people from all over the world, and rarely does anyone think the answer is insignificant. If your own reply gives you pause, consider a second question:

What if we could get better at solving the right problems?

What difference might it make to your lifeto the people and the causes you care aboutif everyone got just a little bit better at barking up the right trees?

This book is about how to do that. Its purpose is to upgrade the worlds ability to solve problems. It does this by sharing a very specific skill called reframing the problem, or reframing in short.

More than fifty years of research has shown that reframing is an exceptionally powerful skilland not just for solving problems. People who master reframing make better decisions, get more original ideas, and tend to lead more remarkable lives.

Best of all, its not that hard to learn. By reading this book, you will become a better thinker and problem solver. Youll likely make headway on some of your current challenges, toonot later, but while you are reading this book.

To understand what reframing is, read on. A slow elevator is waiting for you.

THE SLOW ELEVATOR PROBLEM

Heres the central idea of this book:

The way you frame a problem determines which solutions you come up with.

By shifting the way you see the problemthat is, by reframing ityou can sometimes find radically better solutions.

To see how this works, consider this classic example, the slow elevator problem:

You are the owner of an office building, and your tenants are complaining about the elevator. Its old and slow, and they have to wait a lot. Several tenants are threatening to break their leases if you dont fix the problem.

First of all, notice how this problem isnt presented to you neutrally. Like most of the problems we encounter in the real world, someone has already framed it for you: the problem is that the elevator is slow.

In our eagerness to find a solution, many of us dont notice how the problem is framed; we take it for granted. As a result, we start coming up with ideas for how to make the elevator faster: Could we upgrade the motor? Could we improve the algorithm? Do we need to install a new elevator?