Solving Problems is Not Recommended– A New Principle of Applied Stupidity

Have you ever gotten onto a plane and opened up the airline magazine, hoping to kill some time doing the crossword, only to find someone else has already done it?  Annoying, wasn’t it?

We tend to think of problems as bad things but in fact human beings love problems.  Some people talk about “teaching problem solving skills,” but this strikes me as odd.  There is nothing better equipped to solve a problem than a 2 year old, especially if that problem is how to get up on the counter where the cookie jar is located.  They need no training in problem solving skills.  Our biggest problem is finding ways to stop them from solving every problem.

Bill Gates had more money than God, and could have lived the rest of his life in Bora Bora, waited on hand and foot.  So what does he do?  He gives most of it away to a foundation, and then goes out looking for the biggest and toughest problems he can find.

The point here is, human beings are born problem solvers.  So if you want people to be engaged, don’t offer a solution to be implemented.  Don’t solve the problem.  If you want to lead, offer a problem to be solved.

Now it is true that this idea runs counter to standard educational industrial complex theory.  In school you are of course rewarded for “solving problems” (or at least going thru motions that lead you to a foregone conclusion).  But school problems, like the tape of last night’s game after someone has told you the outcome, are of little interest.  We know they have already been solved, so they aren’t very interesting.  We like real problems.  We also like to find our own solutions. 

So if you are managing people and they seem disengaged, ask yourself, is there a problem to be solved here?  Or is there just a same old solution to be implemented – while keeping one's mind “occupied” with a Rubik’s Cube under the desk?

We all like to feel like we’re smart, and we like to demonstrate that by solving problems.  But consistently, the best leaders and managers I have encountered applied stupidity, i.e., they repressed their own urge to solve the problem. Instead, they always dumped the problem-solving task on me.  I fell for it every time, working myself to death, because I just love to solve problems and show off how clever I am. 

I have since learned to embrace my inner idiot and sit back, look helpless, and let other people solve the problems.  They are having a great time, and all I do is figure out more problems for them to solve. 

The job of a leader is not to solve a problem, it is to define the problem.  It’s up to the followers to get together and solve it.  Problems are the great motivator in life.  Problems make people to want to work together.  Solutions, like done crossword puzzles, are of no interest to anyone. 

If you are leader, never solve a problem. 

© Justin Locke

PLEASE NOTE the 3rd printing of “Principles of Applied Stupidity”will be available on or about December 14th.   We are currently sold out!!  Who would have thought??!!