Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Framing and Reframing Perspectives

Framing is a mental structure that is built upon the beliefs you have about yourself, your roles, your resources, your circumstances, and about other people. It is a structure you use to ascribe meaning in what you observe of the world around you. In other words, the meaning you perceive from any event is dependent upon how you frame it in your mind. As such, your frames shape how you perceive the world, yourself, and others. Our human perceptual capacity is like a magnifying glass that we can move over text or images. We focus in on something and often lose awareness of what originally surrounded that magnified area. It’s like cropping photos on our digital cameras. We crop the image to our preferred view of the scene and forget the bigger picture. Frames are inherent in your perception of the world; as such, they are either helpful within the context you are using them, or they are not. Frames can be optimistic or pessimistic, expand your possibilities or limit them (e.g. a growth or fixed mindset – (Dweck 2008)). Frames are therefore appropriate or inappropriate, good or bad, depending on your objectives. The more control you can achieve of the frame, the more options you have for selecting a frame that is more appropriate for your objectives. Framing and reframing perspectives on problem statements brings greater clarity to that problem statement.

When you decide to work on a project with others, you frame that problem with a scope in a project statement so that everyone knows what is included and excluded. With an explicit project statement, everyone can understand what a successful project outcome is and what they need to focus on in order to complete their part of the project. In the same way, the frames you use on a daily basis provide a context for your thoughts, attitudes, decisions, and actions. They help guide the direction of your thoughts, attitudes, decisions, and actions to help you accomplish your desired outcomes. Your desired outcomes may be an internal change (e.g. in creating new habits) or an external change in the world around you. Problems have been described at the discrepancy between the current state and some desired future state (your objective). Just as a project statement guides the completion of a project, a problem statement can be used to guide the solution of a problem to achieve your objectives.

When you’re stuck on a problem it often helps to look at it from another perspective. A “fresh pair of eyes” can be all that you need to come up with a great solution. Reframing is seeing the current situation from a different perspective. Reframing can be tremendously helpful in problem solving, decision making and learning. With reframing, one shifts one’s perspective to be more empowered to act effectively and impactfully. The goal of reframing is to expand your vision of a problem’s context so that you can consider a wider range of interpretations of what’s happened (the current state), or a wider range of potential future states (the desired outcomes), or a wider range of control mechanisms to transform the current state into the desired outcomes. Many times, merely reframing one’s perspective on a situation can also help people change how they feel about the situation. Reframing enables a choice of how to frame a problem, an opportunity for empowerment through learning and decision making. Recall that some frames may be more or less helpful for achieving particular objectives. Frame selection choices may enable easier, more efficient problem resolution, and/ or greater impact or value in the achievable outcomes.

Framing and reframing perspectives on problems

Framing and reframing perspectives on problems highlights the differences between different perspectives. When we consciously reframe, we look for patterns, examine our filters, and question our perceptions, we can emerge with a new picture of reality. We can reframe by shifting the perspective in a variety of dimensions (e.g. time, people, risk, resources (input scale), results (output scale). Many problems require participation by others for solution. Truly wicked problems require significant attitude shift by large numbers of other stakeholders. If we share our new perceptions with others and hear theirs, we can shift perspective into an enlarged reality. It can create change and movement, in personal relationships, in organizations, and even society at large.

The first step in solving your problem is to define the problem with a problem statement so that you can focus on the important aspects of your problem and remove the distractions that obscure its essential features. The process of selecting the essential aspects of your problem creates a (problem solving) framework for its resolution. Even without an explicit problem-solving framework, you inherently select some subset of information about your problem. If the problem is framed in such a way that essential elements remain obscured, then this frame may not be very helpful to resolving the problem. When consciously using a Problem-Solving Framework, you explicitly identify the essential features that you want to see in your problem statement. Using and explicit frame to structure your problem statement provides a starting point. Framing and reframing perspectives on the problem statement typically proceeds by asking a series of questions from a new perspective and then recreating the problem statement based on that perspective.

Is your client’s problem sensitive to the way it is framed?

Is your client’s problem sensitive to the way it is framed? Your client may not recognize the impact of framing the problem statement on potential problem solutions. Viable solutions may be cheaper and easier to develop if they only need to be applicable to clients within a reduced scope developed by refining the problem statement.

When developing the problem statement for your client, understanding diverse perspectives can impact the scope of the desired future state as well as constraints on viable solutions. If you are developing client problem statements, you might be interested in our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements. Everyone has Client’s problems that they need to solve, but are they solving the right problem? Are you solving your best problem? Whether you are a researcher, business professional or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter! We’d like to hear your view of the most important challenges in writing problem statements for your clients. We have a brief survey on the most important challenges that should take less than 2 minutes to complete. The survey tackles less than 2 minutes and you can get started right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

Problem Perspectives Course

If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your client problem statement contact me.

References

(Dweck 2008) Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House Digital, Inc..

Posted on Thursday, August 10, 2023

Perspective Dimensions

The Power of Perspective can be distinguished in multiple dimensions

Perspectives are the lenses through which we see the world whether you are a school student, business professional, social entrepreneur or concerned with your own creativity. Perspectives shape how we interpret information, solve problems, and make decisions. Perspectives can be distinguished by three factors: (i) the data they observe, (ii) the methods of processing that data, and (iii) the values attributed to the outcomes of that data processing. The Power of Perspective is that taking diverse perspectives exposes assumptions and inconsistencies, enabling better problem-solving. Consider how these dimensions of a perspective can vary between different perspectives and shed new insight into the problems you confront.

Perspective Dimenions

Explicit Data Observations exposes the Power of perspective

A specific perspective focuses on the data that it deems relevant. The selected data becomes the basis for the analysis and evaluation associated with that perspective, framing the limits of what that perspective can deliver. Selecting some data for analysis means rejecting other data, and being explicit about the data selection exposes potential blind spots. Consider how these different perspectives are constrained by the data they select.

From a scientific perspective, data is typically primary observations from carefully designed experiments.
From a technological perspective, data might include design objectives, environmental measurements, secondary data on component characteristics etc.
From a market perspective, market data may be primary observations or secondary studies concerning the need for or intended use of a new product or service.
From a regulatory perspective, secondary data on industry performance is typically collected through regulatorily required reporting.

Explicit Processing Methods demonstrate the skills associated with specific perspectives

A specific perspective may have particular skills associated with it that provide methods for processing or analyzing the data selected by that perspective. Some perspectives utilize data analysis methods that are very quantitative with some degree of implied precision, while others are more qualitative recognizing e.g. different categories of data.

From a scientific perspective, scientific methods develop models of the world which enable predictions that can be tested for validity, falsifiability etc.
From a technological perspective, design methods include industry best practices, use of scientific models, calculations of expected performance in various conditions
From a market perspective, key requirements and product concepts can be articulated and tested prior to implementation. Such testing can also be used in the estimation of expected market size, value etc.
From a regulatory perspective, economic studies, judicial outcomes and other policy considerations can be used to guide the development of policies affecting specific industries or technologies

The power of perspective is often seen best in divergent valuation approaches

Perspectives use values to gauge the results of their analysis. Values can be idiosyncratic or informed by some explicit rule to associate some meaning of “goodness” to an analytic output. For example, a two perspectives may both look at real estate sales data and conclude that there is a trend of rising prices. One perspective may interpret this as a good result because the value of that perspective holder’s real estate wealth is increasing. A different perspective may conclude this trend is a social disaster as young folks forming new households would not be able to afford to purchase a house. Consider the valuation mechanisms that these perspectives use:

From a scientific perspective, scientific progress is achieved through the dissemination and adoption by others of new models of model extensions.
From a technological perspective, successful implementations are typically evaluated in terms of the delivery of design objectives and various performance metrics such as cost or efficiency
From a market perspective, market success is usually measured in terms of market adoption and value received.
From a regulatory perspective, regulatory outcomes are typically valued in terms of alignment with policy objectives and more general social and legal concepts such as fairness

Conclusions

Perspective-taking is not only a social skill but also a cognitive skill. It enables you to see things differently, think creatively, and solve problems more effectively. Perspective-taking can also help you build rapport, trust, and loyalty with your team and stakeholders. If you are interested in taking this Power of Perspective course, please visit our website for more information and registration details. Don’t miss this opportunity to unlock the Power of Perspective for yourself and your organization.

Posted on Wednesday, March 1, 2023

The Power of Perspective

... for sales and marketing professionals

If you are a sales or marketing professional, you know how important it is to understand your customers and prospects. You need to know what they want, what they need, and what they value. You need to communicate with them effectively and persuasively. You need to utilize the Power of Perspective to create value propositions that resonate with them and convince them to buy your products or services. But how do you do that? How do you get inside their heads and see the world from their point of view? How do you avoid making assumptions or stereotypes that may alienate them or miss the mark?

The answer is perspective-taking. Perspective-taking is the ability to imagine the world from another’s vantage point. It is a cognitive skill that can help you broaden your horizons, challenge your assumptions, and discover new possibilities. Perspective-taking can also help you overcome biases, stereotypes, and prejudices that may limit your sales and marketing effectiveness. Perspective-taking is not only a social skill, but also a cognitive skill. It enables you to see things differently, think creatively, and solve problems more effectively. Perspective-taking can also help you build rapport, trust, and loyalty with your customers and prospects.

The Power of Perspective for sales and marketing professionals

But how do you learn perspective-taking? How do you practice it and apply it in your sales and marketing activities? That’s where a course on the Power of Perspective comes in. This course will teach you how to use perspective-taking through framing and reframing to enhance your sales and marketing skills. You will learn how perspective-taking can benefit you at each stage of the sales and marketing process:

– Identify your customers and prospects. You will learn how to research and segment your target market by taking their perspectives. You will also learn how to identify their needs, preferences, goals, and constraints by taking their perspectives whether they be technical, business or legal.
– Generate ideas for your products or services. You will learn how to use your imagination and curiosity to come up with new and original ideas that address your customers’ and prospects’ problems or challenges from different angles. You will also learn how to use brainstorming techniques that leverage perspective-taking building on the data observed, processing methods, and values associated with different perspectives.
– Evaluate and refine your ideas for your products or services. You will learn how to compare and contrast your ideas with the existing solutions and your customers’ and prospects’ needs and preferences by taking their perspectives. You will also learn how to improve your ideas based on feedback from others.
– Communicate and promote your products or services. You will learn how to choose the best idea or combination of ideas that meet the criteria of originality, usefulness, and feasibility. You will also learn how to explain how your idea solves your customers’ and prospects’ problems or challenges from different perspectives. You will also learn how to demonstrate how your idea adds value and impact.

By taking this course, you will not only improve your sales and marketing skills, but also your collaboration, communication, and leadership skills. You will be able to work with diverse teams and leverage their skills, knowledge, and insights. You will also be able to inspire others and make a difference by taking their perspectives.

If you are interested in taking this course, please visit our website for more information and registration details. Don’t miss this opportunity to unlock the Power of Perspective for yourself and your organization.

Posted on Thursday, December 1, 2022

Solving a Better Problem

Course for high school students

Solving a better problem is to first know what it is.

One of the most important things you can do in life is to understand your problems, before you try to solve them. Whether it’s a personal challenge or something that affects the world around you, developing diverse perspectives to understand helps you find a better problem to solve, and think outside the box.

Think about if someone else had this same problem, you face. If you can solve it, you’d be able to provide them with advice and support, and they’d probably want to hire you as their personal assistant.

It also helps when there are others who are in a similar situation as yours. If everyone thinks about their problems in this way, then no one will be alone anymore!

You need perspective on your problems so that they don’t seem so big and overwhelming; otherwise, they’ll feel like insurmountable obstacles on the path to success.”.

If you’re a high school student, you probably have a ton of problems. From figuring out how to pay for college to dealing with your parents’ divorce. It can be hard to know what to do about all the different issues that come up in your life.

That’s where my course “Power of perspective: Solve your best problem” comes in. This course will help you figure out the best problems for you to solve. reframing perspectives will get you the insights that will help you feel confident about yourself. And ready for whatever life throws at you.

In this course, we’ll look at perspectives from several different angles—including how they affect our emotions, behaviors, relationships with others, and even our physical health—and then use these perspectives as tools to identify the “best problem” for each person based on their unique set of circumstances. By understanding how different perspectives work together and coming up with strategies that work for everyone involved, we can find a way forward in any situation!

In this course, I’ll teach you how to solve your problems in a way that makes you feel better about yourself and gives you the confidence to take on life’s challenges head on. To me, this sounds like a pretty cool idea—and it’s not just me! Thousands of students from all over the world are taking my course and loving it! Why? Because it works!

This course will teach you how to identify a problem that matters to you, then use the power of perspective to find the right solution. This is a project-based course that teaches you how to:

Identify a problem that matters to you
Find the right solution with the power of perspective
Conduct research on your chosen topic to develop a plan for action

Problem Perspectives

The key to solving your best problem is to look at it from different perspectives.

Take the case of a high school student who has been struggling with math. He lives in a country where his family is relatively poor, and he has an older brother who goes to college and a younger sister who is still in elementary school. The student’s father works hard, and the family doesn’t have much money. The boy often has to take care of his younger siblings. Their mother works at home or goes out to work in order to make ends meet.

He’s been working hard on his math grades because he wants his parents’ to be proud of him. But when he looks back at the work he’s done so far, he realizes that too many of his assignments could have been better, even though they were correct according to the teacher’s instructions.

The student knows he can solve this problem better. Solving a better problem will give him a chance at getting good grades. And good grades eventually lead to being accepted into college. Solving a better problem avoids wasting all this time by doing them right away!

You might think that all problems are the same, but they aren’t. Some problems are harder than others and require different approaches to solve them. This is especially true if you want to be successful in life. You need to know how to solve the right problem.

One way to determine whether a problem is right for you is by using your “problem perspective.” A problem perspective is a way of looking at a situation that helps you decide what solutions will work best for you.

For example, if you’re trying to improve your grades in school, and someone suggests that you should try tutoring another student instead of studying for tests, that person doesn’t understand your “problem perspective” because he or she hasn’t taken the time to understand what it’s like for him or her when trying to study for tests.

Course on Problem Perspectives

In this Course, I will show you how to solve your best problem.

You should solve the right problem, not the first one that you find. The most satisfying work comes from identifying problems worth solving, and then solving them well. This can only be accomplished if you fully understand the situation before providing a solution.

The best way to do this is to adopt a wide perspective. Don’t let yourself get immersed in the details of the problem or feel intimidated by it. Think about the problem from several different standpoints. You’ll be able to identify a better problem to solve.

Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Problem Perspectives

The Power of Refining Problem Statements

The skill of using problem perspectives is one of the most important skills you can learn in life. It helps you to see the world in a different way and solve a better problem. So what is this “problem” perspective thing? Well, it’s when we look at our own job, or our clients business, through an outside lens. Instead of just being like “I AM doing marketing”, you look at it as: “my potential customers need to be able to understand why they should buy my product”. And if that is true then I start thinking about how this problem fits into the best solution for them. View the problem from their perspective.

Are you in the business of solving problems? If your answer is yes, then it’s not a coincidence you read this blog. I’m going to show you why your problem perspectives matter, share with you how it’s affecting how you’re solving problems and how to fix it.

When we start solving problems in our careers, whether we realize it or not, we’re positioning ourselves to be successful at our jobs and potentially even at life. One of the areas that benefits from understanding our problems-perspectives is how we approach marketing campaigns and creative briefs.

Are you a Business Owner, Entrepreneurs, Marketer, or something else? Do you know if your business is solving the right problem?

Asking this question using problem perspectives can help you determine what kind of business you should be in and help you avoid wasting time and resources on a bad idea.

Consider your problem perspectives

Here are some questions to ask yourself about your problem perspective:

What is the problem that I am trying to solve?
How do other people regard this problem? Are they aware of it or unaware?
How have others attempted to solve this particular problem before me? Have they succeeded? If so, how did they do it? How did they fail?

If you’re like most people, you have a lot of problems. There’s the problem with your hair, the problem with your job, and the problem with your relationship. But if you’re also like most people, you don’t think about how to solve those problems. How do you take on something as big as solving all of your problems?

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life—and it’s also easy to get stuck in a rut where all we do is solve one problem at a time. But what if we could see things from different perspectives? What if we could solve our best problems by looking at them through new lenses ie using problem perspectives?

In this course, I’m going to help you develop perspective-taking skills. You can choose how to solve your best problems by reframing your perspective. We’ll learn how to identify what kind of problem perspective might work best for each situation—and how to use that insight when faced with difficult choices or tough times.

I’m going to give you a simple test to determine which perspective is working best for your job and career. The test is easy: just ask yourself one question: What would happen if we solved this problem? Can we make something happen? If your answer is yes, then go ahead and solve it! If your answer is no (or maybe?), then find another way to solve it or ask someone else who can!

10 Professions That Need To Be Sure They Are Solving The Right Problems

Here are the top ten professions that need to be sure they are solving the right problem.

The CEO of a company needs to be sure that their company is solving the right problem.
People who want to do things differently or better
A salesperson needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their client.
A teacher needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their students.
A business owner needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their employees.
A researcher needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their research project, or they haven’t done it yet!
A student needs to be sure that they are solving the right problem for their paper or presentation, or else it won’t count!
A manager needs to be sure that their employees are solving the right problem so they can help them succeed in achieving their goals and objectives at work or in life overall!
An artist needs to be sure that she is solving the right problems for herself in order to create beautiful art pieces!
An athlete needs to be sure that she is solving her best possible athletic problems by training hard, staying healthy, eating well and sleeping enough each day so she can compete at her highest level when called upon by her coach or teammates during practice hours.

Skills for problem perspectives

The most important skill is to solve the right problem, and the best way to do that is being clear about your problem perspective. By keeping these simple considerations in mind as you move through your research, design and development process all other aspects of your work should be clearer and easier.

These steps can solve your best problem with problem perspectives.

Pick a problem to solve (Start by picking a problem that you are motivated to solve).
Brainstorm solutions (Focus on solutions you could implement yourself without a lot of resources).
Evaluate your solutions (Determine which solutions work and which do not).
Implement the best solution (Pick the solution that worked and get started on implementing it).

I hope you will learn to know, respect and use the power of perspectives. In my experience as a Master / Business advisor, as a course instructor and trainer, as well as working with International businesses I have found that “The person who can solve his own problems usually understands and recognizes the problems of others”

Posted on Thursday, March 10, 2022

The Power of Perspective for Negotiators and Mediators

If you are a negotiator or a mediator, you know how challenging it can be to deal with conflicts and disputes. You need to understand the interests and positions of all parties involved, and find a way to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. You need to communicate effectively and persuasively, and manage emotions and expectations. You need to create value and trust, and avoid impasses and deadlocks.But how do you do that? How do you use the Power of Perspective to get inside the heads of the people you are negotiating or mediating with? How do you avoid making assumptions or judgments that may hinder your progress or damage your relationships?

The answer is the utilization of the Power of Perspective . Perspective-taking is the ability to imagine the world from another’s vantage point. It is a cognitive skill that can help you broaden your horizons, challenge your assumptions, and discover new possibilities. Perspective-taking can also help you overcome biases, stereotypes, and prejudices that may interfere with your negotiation or mediation effectiveness. Perspective-taking is not only a social skill, but also a cognitive skill. It enables you to see things differently, think creatively, and solve problems more effectively by refining the problem statement to solve a better problem. Perspective-taking can also help you build rapport, trust, and loyalty with the parties you are negotiating or mediating with. But how do you learn perspective-taking? How do you practice it and apply it in your negotiation or mediation activities?

The Power of Perspective for Negotiators and Mediators

That’s where a course on the Power of Perspective comes in. This course will teach you how to use perspective-taking to enhance your negotiation or mediation skills. You will learn how perspective-taking can benefit you at each stage of the negotiation or mediation process:

Prepare for your negotiation or mediation. You will learn how to research and analyze the situation and the parties involved by taking their perspectives. You will also learn how to identify their interests, positions, goals, and constraints by taking their perspectives.
Engage in your negotiation or mediation. You will learn how to use your imagination and curiosity to generate options and alternatives that address the parties’ problems or challenges from different angles. You will also learn how to use communication techniques that leverage perspective-taking, such as active listening, reframing, summarizing, and questioning.
Conclude your negotiation or mediation. You will learn how to evaluate and compare the options and alternatives with the parties’ interests and positions by taking their perspectives. You will also learn how to craft agreements that meet your criteria of fairness, efficiency, and durability.

By taking this course, you will not only improve your negotiation or mediation skills, but also your collaboration, communication, and leadership skills. You will be able to work with diverse parties and leverage their skills, knowledge, and insights. You will also be able to inspire others and make a difference by taking their perspectives.

Posted on Sunday, November 7, 2021

Towards a Blockchain Voting Roadmap

Voting systems are a problem space that matter to humans because of the actions required of participants, and the impacts of voting decisions. Reports of unauthorized voting, of possible election interference by foreign powers, of voter disenfranchisement, and of technological failures call into question election integrity. Automated voting systems promise efficiency and improved accuracy. This improvement comes from elimination in the electoral processes of humans that may be error prone, or otherwise biased. Information, computing, communication and connectivity technologies offer capabilities that are not leveraged by existing paper voting systems.

Maybe it is time fore some outside of the box thinking. Suitable electronic systems may enable other democratic forms beyond representative democracy or direct democracy. From the perspective of an existing voting process, blockchain voting systems are an example of digital transformation. Transforming voting is also subject to a number of risks or threats regarding political exclusion, legitimacy issues, identity and privacy/ secrecy concerns.

Roadmaps as a retrospective provide the opportunity to learn from past mistakes. But, the main value of prospective technology roadmaps, is as a decision aid in developing the technology. Such roadmaps identify the sequence of evolutionary technology improvements needed. Community engagement and recognition of roadmaps as emergent rather than centrally planned are key.

Deployments of new voting systems by election organizers is easier in “greenfield” situations. This is because existing voting procedures do not need to be displaced. Election organizers have used a variety of different implementation and delivery models for other voting systems. These implementation and delivery models could be applied by election organizers for a blockchain based voting system as well. A blockchain voting system could be designed for a single organization. An alternative design might prefer a single instance be usable by multiple organizations. The designer of a blockchain voting service could offer it “as a Service”. The Service hides the implementation details. Alternatively, the developer could build on an existing blockchain infrastructure where the blockchain implementation is explicit.

Roadmaps can provide a decisional framework; and identify milestones to determine progress. Roadmaps with fewer dimensions help to concentrate efforts to improve performance in those dimensions. Roadmapping can help clarify the different areas where blockchain voting systems may be more easily implementable and deployable. Blockchain voting systems targeting market based or corporate governance may be more tractable in the near term. Establishing broader consumer familiarity with the technology may eventually lead to use in political governance. To read further a lengthier published article is available : Towards a Blockchain Voting Roadmap

Whether you are a researcher, business professional, or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter! Framing and reframing the problem from different perspectives can enable you to see past constraints. These constraints may not exist from a different perspective. Developing a client-centric, solution-agnostic problem statement can enable the needed creative thinking.

If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your clients’ needs problem statement contact me.

Posted on Sunday, February 28, 2021

From Sustaining to Disruptive Innovation

Managers know their companies must grow. Investment capital is not easy to come by. Firms are reluctant to take risks. Your clients are economically stressed. Growth is hard, especially given today’s economic environment. Today’s managers have a problem. The status quo is not acceptable. They need innovative thinking to change the game. But not all innovations are the same. Sustaining innovation targets existing, high-end clients or customers demanding better performance than previously available. Disruptive innovation helps create a new market and value network. The types of innovation that you require will depend on the circumstances.

Established competitors usually win competitive battles over sustaining technology. Year over year they grind out incremental improvements. On occasion, they develop products that leapfrog beyond the competition. It doesn’t matter whether the innovation is technologically advanced. This strategy works for the incumbents because it results in better products that they can sell for higher margins to their best customers. Established competitors have the resources to maintain a pipeline of sustaining innovation. For many incumbents, sustaining innovation is like fixing defects – a cost a business as usual. But even for masters of this approach, there can be times when sustaining innovation is not enough. Customers or clients and the business environment may change (e.g., COVID) requiring managers to reassess their business models.

Disruptive Innovation

The term “Disruptive innovations” means inventing or reinventing business models. A technology that enables market disruptions is a disruptive technology. It is the business model and not the technology that enables and creates the disruptive effect. The market is the thing that is disrupted by innovation.

To change from sustaining to disruptive innovation, your focus should not be on the product or service currently being delivered. Rather, your attention should be redirected to the clients’ needs that the product or service attempts to meet. Disruptive innovators significantly alter and improve a product or service in ways that the market did not expect. This is innovation by thinking outside the box of existing product or service offerings. The effects of your successful disruptive innovation can be seen in two dimensions – the market structure and the product features. By discovering or segmenting a new category of customers or clients, the innovator disrupts the market structure. By altering the product or service features and quality the innovator disrupts industry cost structures.

Disrupters tend to focus on getting the business model, rather than merely the product, just right. Usually, this requires a maniacal focus on clients’ needs. Market segmentation then proceeds not merely on the basis of demographics, but also using psychographics based on clients’ goals in a particular context. As Zig Ziglar once opined, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want”. By market segmenting on the customers’ or clients’ needs, and the contexts in which those needs arise, marketing messages can be more precisely delivered. By refocusing on the customers’ / clients’ needs and context, new technologies or processes for satisfying those needs can be developed. To change from sustaining to disruptive innovation, you first need to resegment the market based on your clients’ needs and context, before working through the solution details.

Clients' needs problem statement not biased by existing solution

Your first step to change from sustaining to disruptive innovation, then, is capturing the clients’ needs in a clear, unbiased, problem statement. Talking to clients and customers can provide insight into their perceived needs. Your discussions here are, unfortunately, often biased. The inherent bias comes from many sources – existing offers in the market, the clients’ or customers’ world view, etc. Additional observation approaches can help to develop a broader perspective. Refining these inputs into a clear problem statement can be a challenging, often iterative process. The iterations happen in conversation with clients or customers, but also in the analysis with reframing perspectives on the observations. With business model innovations, in particular, iterating through technical, legal, and business perspectives, can provide a broader perspective on the clients’ needs and context.

We can help!

Framing and reframing the problem from different perspectives can enable you to see past constraints. These constraints may not exist from a different perspective. Developing a client-centric, solution-agnostic problem statement can enable the needed creative thinking. You need a broader perspective of the clients’ problem to expose a wider variety of potential solutions. Our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements can help you get your clients’ needs problem statement right.

Whether you are a researcher, business professional, or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter! We’d like to hear your thinking on the most important challenges so you can think outside the box for your clients. We have a brief survey that should take less than 2 minutes of your time to complete. You can start right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

Problem Perspectives Course

If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your clients’ needs problem statement contact me.

Posted on Saturday, February 27, 2021

When to Think Outside The Box

Thinking outside the box simply means that you’re willing to consider different solutions and methods for reaching your goal or desired outcome. You want to get from point A to point B, but you don’t necessarily need or want to take the tried and true route to get there (which is inside the box). This can also mean considering some creative alternatives in terms of the goals or desired outcomes. Moving the goalposts, even a little, can have an outsized impact on the game. The phrase is often associated with the Nine-Dot Puzzle, where the box is sometimes literally drawn around the nine dots, framing a solution space, or maybe inferred as the paper on which the dots are drawn.

In a more general sense, the box is a perspective that provides a set of constraints on possible solutions. A new perspective looks beyond that set of constraints to enable innovative thinking. Thinking differently can have a powerful and positive effect on your career. As an entrepreneur, this is why you need to think outside the box: it can help you get ahead of your competition in identifying and exploiting opportunities.

Only incremental progress lies inside the box

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw

Sometimes, we can get pretty stuck in our ways. We become complacent, just going through the motions, doing what we need to but no more. We’re scared to deviate from the set route and make our own paths. If everyone just accepted things the way they are, then there would never be any innovation or improvement in the world.

A lot of the time we’re not even really present in what we’re doing – we’re on auto-pilot. If Thomas Edison was complacent and figured things were good enough the way they were, light bulbs and the electricity to power them might never have been commercially developed. If he hadn’t thought outside the box, the world could (literally) be a very dim place. Identifying topics where complacency exists can identify an opportunity for unconventional thinking.

More things are variable than you may expect

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.
— Henry Ford

If you view things as unchangeable, then nothing will ever change for the better. By thinking outside the box, you are questioning the status quo. Asking how you could improve an experience, product, or service for your clients. This allows you to keep growing as a person and as an entrepreneur. Questioning the status quo can provide the new perspectives necessary for intelligent and forward-thinking decisions in business.

When first articulating a client’s problem statement, it is not uncommon to have a lot of unstated assumptions regarding unchangeable factors. Let’s face it – factors that can’t be changed or controlled are boring. In reality, many factors change with time, geography, etc. Indeed, seemingly arbitrary changes in environmental factors may be causing the clients’ difficulties. A better understanding of the clients’ problem space may enable better controls to be identified. As an example, mankind can’t control the weather. On a smaller scale, heating and air conditioning significantly improve the quality of life for millions of people. Specialized “clean rooms” enable various industrial processes (from semiconductor manufacturing to biomedical research). Just because the initial client problem description assumes some factor is unchangeable, does not mean that change and control of that factor is impossible.

Outside the box perspectives

“The task is…not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.” ― Erwin Schrödinger

Thinking outside the box can expand your worldview, allowing you to have a greater perspective. This includes not only the events and happenings in your career but also in other dimensions in your life. When you’re willing to consider alternative points of view and ways of doing things, you’ll be more open to a variety of different points of view and potential solutions. Moving from the client’s problem to a solution is not always a straight line. Creativity is often required in developing an appropriate perspective before attempting solution innovation.

This need for a new perspective is why so many businesses bring in outside consultants to help come up with new ideas. The consultants don’t carry the burden of constraints on their thinking from existing tools and processes. Their version of Outside-The-Box Thinking can dream up and offer up wildly new ideas that get people excited and lead to innovative pivots etc.

We can help!

Framing and reframing the problem from different perspectives can enable you to see past constraints. These constraints may not exist from a different perspective. Developing a client-centric, solution-agnostic problem statement can enable the needed creative thinking. For wider variety of potential solutions to be exposed, you need a broader perspective of the clients’ problem. Our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements can help you get your client program statement right.

Whether you are a researcher, business professional, or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter! We’d like to hear your thinking on the most important challenges so you can think outside the box for your clients. We have a brief survey that should take less than 2 minutes of your time to complete. You can get started right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

Problem Perspectives Course

If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your client problem statement contact me.

Posted on Thursday, January 14, 2021

Technical, Business, and Legal Perspectives

Technical Perspectives

Technology refers to industrial, practical, or mechanical arts and applied sciences that are deployed to deliver a particular solution. The Technical Perspective provides a good, comprehensive picture of the system at an appropriate level of abstraction, appropriate for the objective of the modeling, and the size of the system being modeled.

The Technical Perspective defines the views of the system using models, processes, and other constructs of that particular technology. The various models used by the technology show how people (or other technical entities) interact with processes at various locations within the system. These technology models recognize a limited set of other technical entities and the things they handle and use. The models also show how these different aspects and things must statically and/or dynamically relate to one another, to produce the desired results. Technology models place emphasis on the structures, conditions, and interaction of entities, roles, locations, and processes and often rely on a specific modeling language (e.g. UML, BPMN) to capture the model. Specific technologies are identified (e.g., Computational aspects, such as storage, computers, and communications), where necessary to describe a solution with specificity. A design pattern for the usage of particular technologies may also be identified or defined.

Taken together, the technical events (and rules), technical roles, technical entities, technical activities, and technical locations describe the system’s elements from a technical perspective. The technical perspective describes the process, or method, explaining how a specific result is to be achieved. The effectiveness of solutions developed from technical perspectives are often evaluated in terms of their efficiency, or resource utilization (e.g., energy consumption, throughput).

Business Perspectives

The Business Perspective defines the business level view of the problem using the resources available to the business and the tools available to the business to achieve its commercial objectives. While there are many corporate stakeholders, for most businesses, their commercial objectives include profitability from their transactions with clients or customers; efficiency in internal operations, and supplier interactions; minimization of regulatory oversight costs; and strategic positioning for advantage against competitors. The business perspective shows clients’ (and employees’) interaction with business processes and resources at various locations within the business.

The business perspective and technical perspective can address the same problem domain at different abstraction levels. The business perspective may focus on the level of a sales process with offers, and other marketing activities to influence or build a relationship with the client, resulting in a contract, followed by service delivery, while a technical perspective may focus on more detailed technical systems and entities (e.g., messages, protocols, databases, etc.) that might implement or support a business process like a sales transaction.

A business perspective can assume a particular business model; or consider an alternative business model or business practice. A business model may be impacted by the scale of responsibility of a particular business manager. The effectiveness of solutions and decisions developed from a business perspective is usually measured with accounting metrics and market or economic statistics.

Legal Perspectives

A legal perspective is relating to or characteristic of the law or the profession of law; and analyses the problem in terms that are recognized, enforceable, or having a remedy at law rather than in equity. There are three essential components to a legal perspective – (1) the identification of the client, (2) the legal right, obligation, or risk, at issue within the circumstances of the problem and, (3) the posture of the client with respect to that legal issue (e.g., defensive vs offensive) i.e., the client’s objectives.

The purpose and goals of the law as an instrument of public policies for society at large, provide a context for the legal perspective. Different theories of law can be used by lawyers to define, explain, compare, and distinguish the facts and circumstances of particular controversies in their clients’ favor. For lawyers in private practice, clients may be individuals or other legal entities (e.g., corporations). Lawyers in administrative or judicial government roles may be representing those governmental organizations. Focusing on their clients’ potential for legal issues and outcomes enables the legal perspective to avoid some of the concerns of other parties’ views.

The narrative of a particular problem statement or situation may involve multiple legal issues, claims, rights, obligations, or risks at issue. The nature and likelihood of legal risks to business operations or other situations can be difficult to predict with certainty at any given moment as it involves some estimation of the likelihood of events occurring and the severity of the impact should the events occur, as well as the interpretations of those events that may be constructed by others (e.g., a court).

The client’s posture (with respect to, and awareness of, particular legal issues, and possible legal remedies) may change between the moment of a particular incident and upon later reflection and other considerations. The clients’ range of acceptable goals, and the likelihood of achievement, also impacts the legal posture to be adopted.

Triangulating the Problem Statement and Innovation Potential

Framing and reframing perspectives on problems highlights the differences between different perspectives. The contrast achieved by describing a problem statement from these three different perspectives enables insight into opportunities for new innovation. A common innovation pattern is for technology innovation to enable new business services or practices which are then reinforced by reducing legal risks through experience and authoritative legal decisions that then enable further technology innovation in a reinforcing cycle. While this is a common innovation pattern, disruptive innovation is not restricted to technology. Innovations in business practices or legal concepts may also provide significant opportunities.

When developing the problem statement for your client, understanding the technical, business and legal perspectives can impact the scope of the desired future state as well as constraints on viable solutions. If you are developing client problem statements, you might be interested in our free Guide to Writing Problem Statements.

Everyone has Client’s problems that they need to solve, but are they solving the right problem? Are you solving your best problem? Whether you are a researcher, business professional or social entrepreneur, the solutions you develop to the problems that you face matter! We’d like to hear your view of the most important challenges in writing problem statements for your clients. We have a brief survey on the most important challenges that should take less than 2 minutes to complete. The survey tackles less than 2 minutes, and you can get started right away by going to this link. I look forward to sharing these insights and resources with you.

A course on the use of perspective to refine problem statements is now available.

Problem Perspectives Course

If you need help bringing the power of perspective to your client’s problem statement, contact me.