What's Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve

Let me tell you about the 'slow elevator' problem. Tenants in a building are complaining about the slow elevator. The immediate, obvious solution is to try and make the elevator faster—a costly and complex endeavor. However, if you reframe the problem, you might realize the issue isn't the elevator's speed, but the experience of waiting. This leads to cheaper, better solutions like installing mirrors, playing music, or placing a hand sanitizer dispenser nearby. The wait time is the same, but the perception of the wait has changed. This is the core idea of my book.

We are all wired to jump to solutions. When faced with a problem, our brain quickly defaults to solving it as it is presented. This is a cognitive trap that leads to wasted time, money, and effort. We get stuck trying to speed up the elevator when a simple mirror would have sufficed. The first and most critical step in problem-solving is to pause and ask, 'Are we solving the right problem?' This simple question, and the reframing process that follows, can radically change your outcomes for the better.