November 2023 - Peripheral Thinkers™ Newsletter
November 15, 2023
Aloha, Peripheral Thinkers™!
I’m so glad you are here. This month, we’re discussing problem-solving but from a different perspective. No surprise, right?
As a Dyslexic, my brain is wired to collect inputs from multiple sources simultaneously. Leaders who learn and apply the Peripheral Thinking™ skills may recognize this trait as a combination of the Interpreting, Deciphering, Studying, and Drilling skills.
This multi-source input fills my content repository, for current and future needs. We’ll discuss how below.
Before we jump into the meat of the newsletter, please remember this…
Your participation in the Peripheral Thinkers™ community blesses me and your fellow Peripheral Thinkers. Thank you for participating.
If the content helps you, share this link with a friend: https://bit.ly/4bIdzNK
If you disagree with something or have questions, tell me: hello@pauldanielsjr.com
Surfs up—let’s go!
🏄🏽♂️😎
FROM TRASH TO TREASURE
Editorial note. In a LinkedIn post last week, I said I’d cover three examples from three clients in three industries. The examples are more detailed than one newsletter can handle, so one client example is included this month, and more will follow in future posts and newsletters.
A Peripheral Perspective — Problem-Solving
Leaders know there will be obstacles to running a business.
We are problem solvers, planners, and strategic thinkers.
We are forward-thinking navigators and consistent goal-achievers.
So why do some problems, any problems, catch you off guard?
Why are you surprised when business growth slows or stalls?
And what are you going to do to solve the problem?
PROBLEM-SOLVING
There are plenty of models for problem-solving to choose from. Google offers these 12 for starters:
1. Five Whys
2. Brainstorming
3. Trial and Error
4. SWOT Analysis
5. Lateral Thinking
6. Four-Step Sketch
7. Six Thinking Hats
8. Ishikawa Diagram
9. Fishbone Analysis
10. Means-Ends Analysis
11. Creative Problem Solving
12. Rubber Duck Debugging (it’s a real thing!)
They vary in their approach but follow a similar pattern. It begins with a focus on the problem. What it is. The causes and effects on the business. Etc. They are linear, matrixed, or circuitous in studying the problem. Simply put, the first step is “Evaluation.”
The second group of steps involves looking for solutions to the problem. When the brain is faced with finding solutions to an obstacle, it looks beyond the obstacle to the goal. The “to-be” environment. After confirming the importance of the goal, the mind references what’s worked in the past. What previous approaches may prove helpful. The brain then considers what others are doing. We look at what competitors and industry leaders are doing. We reference client desires, industry standards, and trends. This step can be labeled “Consideration.”
Evaluation and consideration uncover options and guide the “Creation” and “Execution” of the solution to the problem.
THE PROBLEM WITH PROBLEM-SOLVING
This process breaks down with your view of the issue and possible solutions. Your view of the issue and possible solutions is still from your perspective. If you are problem-solving with your team, the view is filtered through your team’s experiences.
Without a broad set of experiences and references, your decisions are informed by narrow perspectives. What you believe is innovative may be common or iterative at best.
“You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” – Albert Einstein.
It’s not your fault.
Your resources unintentionally limit your options.
Because what you perceive as resources is only a fraction of what’s available.
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
You can’t use what you don’t see.
Don’t worry; your vision is fine. It’s just too narrow.
To use ALL available resources, start by expanding your perspectives.
How?
You must break your thinking patterns to gain new perspectives.
When I say new perspectives, I mean NEW!
As in never-before-experienced.
NEW experiences with NEW people from NEW companies, countries, and cultures.
This increases the quantity and variety of perspectives that inform your thinking and problem-solving skills.
We store these insights in your peripheral resource library.
Unlike the NYC public library, it doesn’t take hundreds of years to fill your library. It’s less than 100 hours. I have clients who find the resources and innovative insights they need in 100 minutes.
Once you start down this path, you’ll recognize there are many more resources than you imagined.
“All Available Resources”
New resources give you new perspectives, insights, and options.
The more resources you have, the more problems you can solve.
The more varied your resources, the more insights you have to avoid problems.
The more mixing and matching you do with the insights you have from your varied (peripheral) resources, the more likely you are to innovate before and beyond problems.
DISRUPTING YOUR THOUGHT PATTERN
Excerpt from an April 2020 article by Sheila Mulrooney Eldred about the history of recycling/repurposing.
In the 1800s, there were no blue recycling bins, no sorting, no recycling trucks rumbling down the alley. Recycling as we know it didn’t exist. But people were way better at it.
“People recycled far more than we do now,” says Susan Strasser, author of Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash. If the elbows in a shirt wore out, you’d take the sleeves off, turn them inside out, and voila: new shirt. If a dress went out of style, you added new buttons or sent it back to the dressmaker to fashion a trendier frock. Eventually, the fabric would be turned into a quilt, rag rug, or just a rag.
“Before there was municipal solid waste disposal, stuff would pile up in your house if you didn’t reuse it,” Strasser points out. “In addition, people who made things had an understanding of the value of material goods that we don’t have at all. Literally, if everything you wore, sat on, or used in your house was something you made or your mother or uncle or the guy down the street made, you had a very different sense of value of material goods.”
CLIENT EXAMPLE
An $11 billion international healthcare company was offered $20 million in operational savings through IT outsourcing. In 1997, public companies applied cost savings to the bottom line. Conventional wisdom favored stock dividends.
The cost savings would be a nice, albeit modest addition to dividends, but it was not interesting enough to commit the time and people to such an endeavor. In essence, the savings were disposable. The company had a more pressing issue. They consistently achieved YOY growth, but maintaining it was becoming more difficult. It required a combination of corporate acquisitions and winning large new contracts. These large contracts only came up once every 3 to 5 years. The largest contract in decades was going out to bid the following year.
Using the principles from the recycling/repurposing industry, the IT Outsourcing proposal positioned the $20 million not as savings but as fuel. Fuel for the healthcare company’s pursuit of this new client. With this new insight, the proposed outsourcing went from a slightly used garment to a fashionable ball gown.
A new perspective for a new purpose—To win the new contract.
In 1998, the healthcare company won the contract worth $1.2 billion in annual revenue. Valuation jumped to $17B the same year.
They learned how to extract value from new perspectives. They discovered how to combine different resources uniquely to create something new. Today, they have a $490 billion valuation.
The moral of this story is that unconventional perspectives can be repurposed for exceptional results.
Remember…
When you are surprised by problems like:
new competitors
outside disruptions
slow or stalled growth
lackluster market adoption
It’s because you’re using only a fraction of your available resources.
Break your thinking patterns with new resources and gain new perspectives.
Until next time, I’ll be looking for you in the Periphery.
p.s. If you are new or want a refresher, here’s an overview of Peripheral Thinking™ 👉🏽 https://www.pauldanielsjr.com. Click and scroll down to “What is Peripheral Thinking™?”
Additional News
Through January 31, 2024, I’m offering my new keynote for free. Peripheral Thinking™: Challenging Convention to Thrive in Any Environment is, hands down, the most thought-provoking, inspiring, and engaging message I’ve created to date. If you or someone you know has an upcoming event in the North Texas area, please tell them. There are a limited number of dates, so it’s first come, first serve.
When you are ready, here’s how I can help you.
1. Executive & Board Advisory. Take your observations from the newsletter and start applying them to your business. The Peripheral Thinkers™ advisory programs help CEOs, Business Leaders, and Corporate Executives apply new perspectives to future-proof your business. Programs are designed for your needs and delivered in 1:1, group, and ongoing advisory sessions. 👉🏽 https://www.pauldanielsjr.com/contact, select ADVISORY, and I’ll reach out to discuss your objectives.
2. Keynotes & Workshops. At a time when speeches and workshops look and sound the same, audiences say that the Peripheral Thinking™ message stands out. “New. Insightful. Inspiring. Immediately applicable.” Samples 👉🏽https://www.pauldanielsjr.com/speaker. Click on “Hold The Date,” and I’ll contact you to discuss how I can make your event the best ever. “With Paul on stage, event planners relax confidently. Sponsors stand proudly. Audiences engage fully.”
Thank you for making this group a unique, perspective-rich community!
Mahalo,
Paul 🤙🏽