The One Thought That Causes Every Organization To Fail
Unpacking the tendency to find a solution without fixing the underlying problem
“Why hasn’t this problem been fixed?” I asked. “It’s been going on for years.”
I was sitting down with a mentor. We were discussing a problem that I was experiencing and trying to resolve. I had a few ideas but wasn’t sure what to do. It was an institutional problem — not one that I created, but rather one that had existed for some time.
“That’s easy,” my mentor quickly said. “Someone chose a solution that didn’t fix the underlying problem.”
Avoiding Issues
There is always an easy solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.
— H.L. Mencken
I could not understand how someone else could see this same issue and not try to fully and finally fix it. I wanted to confront the problem with aggressive action. I wanted to cut through the confusion and inaction and just solve the problem. I felt the pain of letting the problem linger.
Why didn’t someone else fix this before me?
My mentor explained: people before me saw the problem, but found a way to deal with the problem for themselves only, and then…
