Sea of Problems or a 'Pink Bat' of Solutions

Do you sometimes feel as though you’re awash in a sea of problems? They seem to be everywhere we turn and regardless of how much we try, there always seems to be a never ending supply of them. It’s interesting how most of us see only problems while some people have the great ability to look at things differently and see that what appears to be a problem isn’t or to look at something and see a solution. It’s the way we think about what we see that determines whether we see a problem or a solution, whether we see a problem or a new possibility.
John Lennon’s lyrics in “Watching the Wheels” sums this up quite nicely:
Ah, people asking questions, lost in confusion,
Well I tell them there’s no problem, only solutions.

I recently read an extraordinary book “Pink Bat: Turning Problems into Solutions” written by Michael McMillan. I don’t want to spoil your enjoyment of the book so I won’t tell you the story about the pink bat, but I do want to share with you a little of this new way of thinking about perceived problems.

McMillan tells the story about a perceived problem: The amenities were great but the elevators in a new office building were extremely slow and it became a major problem with people getting frustrated, angry and annoyed as they waited for the elevator. The building’s developer hired consultants to assess the problem and ended up with a short list of solutions which were: add a couple more banks of elevators, make the doors open and close faster, stagger business starting and ending times and have visitors come during off-hours. Everyone was so focused on the problem, no one was able to see it as a solution…. Well, almost no one.

So what was the solution to the slow elevators? Simple really: a large crowd still waits outside the elevators, but now the crowd is happy as they gaze up to look at the new video monitors that showed the latest stock market information, checking the weather and reading employee related news. The ‘pink bat’ solution was that the perceived problem became a solution. No one minds waiting for the elevators any more.

Solutions are all around us, we just have to think about things differently. Step back from the perceived problem and apply a different kind of thinking. Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree when the apple fell on his head. Rather than considering this a problem he saw it as a solution – the Universal Law of Gravitation. While most people would see the falling apple as a problem, Newton saw it as a solution.

As McMillan points out:
For every problem, there exists a solution… and at the very least .. an opportunity. But it takes an open mind to see it… and intelligence and imagination to create it….. You can live each day in a world filled with “problems” or rise each morning and embrace a world filled with unseen solutions… eager for you to find them. The decision is yours… both worlds exist. The one you choose is the one you will create.

Karon Graham
Principal CCS