strategy

Do you have a problem or a situation?

Problem: has a solution. Can be solved. Requires brainstorming, problem solving, strategy.

Situation: how it is. Not solvable right now. Requires empathy, recognition, acceptance.

Sometimes we think we have problems but actually have situations. Maybe we can tell if it’s a problem by considering if we are willing to hear advice or not. If not, it’s likely a situation and we need to treat it like one.

Maybe someone will come to you with a “problem” but it’s actually a situation. Recognize it and respond appropriately.

Inspired by Seth Godin’s Akimbo podcast below where he explains this concept in more detail.

What is vs. What You are Expecting

Pro wrestling is fake.

Once we realize the reality of this, it changes the way we see the sport.

There is a difference between what is and what you are expecting.

Do we really know what is going on?

Maybe if we did, we could understand the system at play.

“Omne ignotum pro magnifico est”
I recently read this Latin phrase in A. Conan Doyle’s Shelock Holmes story of “The Red-Headed League.”

The phrase translates to “Everything unknown is taken as grand.”
Or more directly, “Everything unknown is in the place of a magnificent thing.”

In Doyle’s story, Holmes uses this phrase as he contemplates hiding his explanation of how he discovers things because it makes the solution to myster less spectacular.

When faced with a critical, complicated or complex problem we must evaluate what is true and what do we expect. It is quite possible our expectations are interfering with us seeing reality.

Often though, we stop.

We say the system is so grand, so complex, so un-understandable. And we give up.

Dig down. Do the hard work to learn.

This relates especially now to our country coming to terms with racial inequality. There is a system present to understand and break a part and dismantle. It’s not just for these big social problems but also with more localized personal problems. Why we get angry at our spouse at a certain time…why we can’t break through on a project…why we feel anxious constantly. Turn the unknown into the known.

Pro wrestling is fake comes from Seth Godin. I heard it recently on his Akimbo podcast.

Design Leads to Unknown

“The beauty of the design process is you don’t kno where you’re going.” – Es Devlin on TED Radio Hour: The Power of Spaces

The exhilarating unknown when working on a complex problem or creating something anew.

In a true design process, we are not certain what’s around the corner. This can be anxious but you know it has power.

These are the areas we ought to be charting into. Our future is not one with known answers but ones that are not yet discovered.

Design should lead us into the unknown and drive us towards solution.

I initially wrote about this idea but didn’t link “design” to this surprise motivated discovery until I heard Es Devlin talk on it.