99 Problems and I Can’t Solve One

In my time in corporate America, I’ve come to learn that many of the largest companies in the world are frighteningly awash in operational, security, financial, and decision-making problems. There is a shocking lack of data- and evidence-based choices being made at all levels of organizations, but especially at the top - where decision makers are, by definition, furthest removed from gemba and have the least access to primary source material. The thousands of internal challenges and opportunities for improvement can be severely daunting. Leaders with the best of intentions are under constant and immense pressure to solve all of these problems all at once, and they struggle to decide not just on where to start but where the finish line may be. As a result, we set aside our own advice and valuable practices in an effort to do something, ANYTHING, about the immensity and urgency of the problems: we stop limiting work in progress, we try to immediately scale anything with even a shred of anecdotal evidence that it may lead to success, we ignore scientific methods for generating facts, and we lose all patience for making thoughtful, informed decisions. After years of misguided attempts at meaningful, sustainable change, much of the organization finds itself staring longingly down into the abyss - the vicious cycles of failed kaizens, promotions, and attrition that perpetuate or amplify the status quo - waiting for our turn to jump.

There are a few topics I’d like to cover to explore the abyss in an upcoming series:

• Paradox of Choice & Extinct by Instinct
• Wicked Problems
• Overconfidence, Substitution, and Anchoring

For now, I’ll leave you with some borrowed wisdom…

“Patience doesn’t mean passivity or resignation, but power. It’s an emotionally freeing practice of waiting, watching, and knowing when to act.” - Judith Orloff