The Elevator Problem
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a political wonk or leader, or just a parent trying to make sure your kids have the best life possible, you encounter tons of problems every day. Solving these challenges requires critical thinking and creativity.
It also takes a lot of hard work. But too many of us are too quick to accept false premises, so we end up working hard on the wrong problems. The most creative thinkers work hard to avoid this trap.
Here’s one example I recently learned about: An office building received complaints that their elevators were too slow. The obvious solution was to replace the elevators or add additional ones, but that would be expensive. A slightly more creative alternative was to stagger the start times and lunch times for the various offices in the building.
They settled on a novel (and much cheaper) approach… placing full-length mirrors by the elevators.
Amazingly, it worked!
The real problem wasn’t that elevators were too slow, but rather, that people waiting for an elevator were too bored (apparently, when we are looking at ourselves in the mirror, time flies).
The elevator problem is just one of the many examples I recently learned about from my discussion with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg, the author of a new book called, “What’s Your Problem?”
If you’re interested in learning how to use creative solutions to solve problems, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss. Listen to our full conversation, here!
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