Secrets of power problem solving

187 Pages·2011·1 MB·English

by  Roger Dawson

Secrets of Power Problem Solving
SECRETS of POWER
PROBLEM SOLVING
by
Roger Dawson
Copyright © 2011 by Roger Dawson All rights reserved under the Pan-American
and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in
whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the
publisher, The Career Press.
SECRETS OF POWER PROBLEM SOLVING
EDITED BY KATHRYN HENCHES
TYPESET BY EILEEN MUNSON
Cover design by Jeff Piasky
Printed in the U.S.A.
To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ and Canada: 201-
848-0310) to order using VISA or MasterCard, or for further information on
books from Career Press.
The Career Press, Inc.
220 West Parkway, Unit 12
Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
www.careerpress.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dawson, Roger, 1940-Secrets of power problem solving / by Roger Dawson.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60163152-7 -- ISBN 978-1-60163-674-4 (ebook) 1. Decision
making.
2. Problem solving. I. Title.
HD30.23.D3737 2011
153.4’3--dc22
2011003529
To my beautiful wife, Gisela,
who brought love
back into my life.
To all the attendees of my seminars,
readers of my books,
and listeners to my audio programs
who shared their problem solving stories with me.
To my three astounding children:
Julia, Dwight, and John.
And to my grandchildren:
Astrid and Thomas.
Contents
Section One
Types of Problems
Chapter 1: There Are Only Two Types of Problems
Chapter 2: Solving People Problems
Chapter 3: Solving Money Problems
Section Two
Problem Solving Tools
Chapter 4: The Simplest Solution Is the Most Likely
Chapter 5: The Five Whys of Problem Solving
Chapter 6: Don’t Let Anger Exacerbate Your Problem
Chapter 7: Let Your Principles Guide You
Chapter 8: Does the Problem Deserve a Solution?
Chapter 9: Is the Problem Real or Imagined?
Chapter 10: What Happens if You Do Nothing?
Chapter 11: Is the Problem Really Unique?
Section Three
Questions to Ask Before You Solve a Problem
Chapter 12: Difficulty Defining the Problem
Chapter 13: Don’t Solve Problems Too Quickly
Chapter 14: Don’t Solve Problems Too Slowly
Chapter 15: How Quickly Should You Choose?
Chapter 16: If the Horse Drops Dead, Get Off Fast
Chapter 17: Don’t Bang Your Head Against Concrete Principles
Section Four
Intuitive Problem Solving
Chapter 18: Do You Have a Golden Gut?
Chapter 19: Is Intuitive Problem Solving Obsolete?
Chapter 20: How Chunking Improves Your Intuition
Chapter 21: Intuition or Rapid Reasoning?
Chapter 22: Improving Intuition With Right-Brained Thinking
Chapter 23: Controlling the Left and Right Sides of the Brain
Chapter 24: Moving Away From the Problem
Chapter 25: Finding New Answers With Creative Thinking
Section Five
Logical Problem Solving
Chapter 26: Go or No-Go Decisions
Chapter 27: Choosing Between Two Ways to Solve a Problem
Chapter 28: Handicapping Critical Decisions
Section Six
Gathering Information
Chapter 29: Gathering Information Is the Key to Good Problem Solving
Chapter 30: Information Drift
Section Seven
Brainstorming
Chapter 31: Should You Brainstorm or Not?
Chapter 32: The Advantages of Brainstorming
Chapter 33: Structured Brainstorming
Section Eight
What Makes You a Great Problem Solver?
Chapter 34: Traits of Great Problem Solvers
Index
About the Author
Section One
Types of Problems
If you only have a hammer, you tend to see
every problem as a nail.
—Abraham Maslow
Ten months a year, I travel the country and a good part of the world, conducting
seminars for corporations and associations. This means that I’ve had a unique
opportunity to sit and talk to some of the most successful people in the company.
Whenever my schedule permits, I like to have dinner the night before with the
president of the company, or the top performer in the association for which I’ll
be speaking. It’s a great opportunity to pick their brains about what made them
so successful.
As the topic of problem solving became more and more fascinating to me, I
started asking successful businesspeople how they solved problems. How do
they go about it in their company? What process do they use?
What I found out was fascinating. Almost nobody has a process for solving
problems. I saw people who had built empires, and were respected by everyone
in their industry, and people who could commit millions of dollars to a project
and not lose a moment’s sleep over it—even they did not seem to know how to
solve problems.
A typical response was “A problem comes up, we kick it around, and, if it
feels right, we make a move.” Isn’t that interesting? How much better could they
be at what they do, if they just got a little bit better at problem solving?
There is a better way, and the starting point is to change the way you think
about problem solving. To become a better problem solver you have to stop
focusing on the problem itself, and concentrate on the problem-solving process.
With a problem-solving process on which you can rely, you will have the
confidence that you’re making the right choice, every time.
You may never do the right thing every time, but if you’ll learn the simple
techniques in this book, you’ll be making the right choice all the time.
In Section One, we’ll talk about the two major types of problems and how to
solve them. Later, I’ll teach you the specific steps to great problem solving.