All great discoveries start with a question.
So too does anything you will create, or be successful at.
We want to do something and realize we can’t. We realize that there’s something we need to learn.
The greatest achievements in business or in organizations start exactly the same way.
Only by realizing that we don’t have the answer, that we need to learn – do we start in the journey to knowledge and success.
We start on the Learning Curve.
We find the answers to thousands of problems every day, from trivial to complex… we have to be answer most problems quickly or we wouldn’t get anything done.
We have to decide which problems are trivial and which are complex.
All leaders ask what’s the answer? Good leaders ask a slightly different question.
Our 1st Leadership Question isn’t what’s the answer to the problems we have, but which Problems will we devote time and energy to Solve??
This takes not only curiosity but humility – to admit you don’t have the answers and go seeking them.
Non-creative people might see the problem but think they already know the answer. It’s not ability they lack but curiosity.
Autocratic leaders kill creativity if they can’t admit not knowing the answer themselves and don’t allow the Learning Curve to start.
“By realizing that we need to learn.. we start on the journey to knowledge and success…”
If I want to learn a new sport – say I want to play golf – I start by realizing I need to Learn. I need to Solve the Problem of playing Golf! To do anything else would be absurd.
Yet many leaders won’t admit they need to learn – and jump straight into providing answers. They may say a problem is complex but treat it as if it’s trivial.
Instead of finding the best solution they find the quickest answer.
Instead of asking “what’s the Answer?” try stepping back and asking “which problem do we need to Solve?”
That one problem, once properly solved, might just be part of a great discovery!