The “Real” Problem

We call many things “problems” that are not really the problem.

Revenue is flat. A project is delayed. A key hire quits. These are outcomes. Symptoms. The real problem usually sits one or two layers below what we first see.

As knowledge workers, our job is not to complain about outcomes. It is to find the root and fix that.

Is the issue unclear ownership? Broken process? Wrong metric? Misaligned incentives?

The hardest part of solving any problem is defining it precisely.

Once you name the real problem, the next steps are almost always obvious.