The real issue? How you find it

Nope, I can't say I have all the key to truly finding the real answers, but here is a big hint: You must find the right questions, first.

Part of my day job is to find a solution to a problem presented to me. I get people from marketing or sales, or management, or... saying "you need to do this." Next week, I get the same people saying, "stop everything, change gears, you need to do that." I've had this happen form months... or more than a year.. on the same project. This is not because we are trying to hit a moving target, it is because there is a failure to surmise the correct questions to begin with.

It is human nature to look at a problem, say "ah-ha! Here is what needs to be done." and then move on. Stop. Take a breath. Look again.

• Ethan Zuckerman says "Problems are not always obvious from afar.."
• Amy Smith says we need to "Listen to the right people."
• Paul Polak asks us to "talk to the people who have the problem – and LISTEN to what they have to say" PLUS "learn everything there is to know about the specific context"
• And the first hint is "Understand by observing the environment, infrastructure, culture and lives of people by being there."

For me, I say do whatever it is you need to in order to STOP. Take a breath. Look again. And then search for the deep principle... the REAL question that needs to be answered because it may not be what you first think it is. Spend the brunt of your time here, in this place of questioning, and then the rest will more easily and more appropriately fall into place.

I do my best to to meditate; whether in nature or while doing tai-chi, to help me learn how to quite my mind and to listen. Right now, I am in the process of starting a business that focuses on helping clients create products and/or processes that less wasteful (materials, toxins, energy, etc...). Over time, this will grow into a company that creates spin-off businesses with blue ocean technologies, donate to kids environmental education and land preservation/restoration, and to get involved w/ socioeconomic issues. In order to do any of this effectively, I will need to be effective and diligent at "quieting my cleverness" to listen and understand the deep issues. Much of the time I find that what a person/client believes they are looking for, at first, is not truly what they need or want... and this includes me!