HITS: HomaFiles’ Ideas To Share
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to kick-off the MSB Consulting Club’s pioneering extracurricular series on problem-solving.
My overall message was that there are 5 key problem-solving skills that consulting firms are looking for …
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Here are some of the Homa Quotes that set-up each of the skills …
(1) Identify core issues quickly
- “Managers faced with a complex problem typically end up solving the wrong problem.”
- “The number of core business problems is not infinite … though variants abound.”
- “Answer the question that was asked, not the question that you want to answer.”
- “Some people go for the the jugular, others go for the capillaries.”
(2) Generate testable hypotheses
- “For analytical efficiency, it’s always best to try to validate (or refute) a hypothesis.”
(3) Gather and analyze facts efficiently
- “There are two types of people in the world: simplifiers and complicators”
- “Do analyses … not just calculations”
(4) Craft creative, practical solutions
- “More people seem able to identify problems than to solve them.”
- “Better an imperfect solution that can be implemented than a perfect solution that can’t.”
(5) Syndicate support and mobilize
- “Getting the answer is the easy part. The hard part is convincing people to do it.”
- “In baseball, pitching is 80% of the game … the percentage is higher in business.”
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In subsequent posts, we’ll dig a little deeper into each of the 5 essential skills.
The Homa Files 