The Root Cause

Rethink Your Approach To Solving Stubborn Enterprise-Wide Problems

Writing THE ROOT CAUSE #8

/ Business Strategy / By

            People ask me WHY I wrote THE ROOT CAUSE: Rethink Your Approach To Solving Stubborn Enterprise-Wide Problems? So, let me tell you.

            An old friend of mine likes to quip in jest: Be Reasonable; Do It My Way!
The number of times I thought of using that line when decision makers share how they intend to solve a problem . . . . . You may think I’m arrogant but I’m not because I recognize patterns that CAUSE the unintended and unwanted EFFECTS, the latter to which they react.

            Unintended and unwanted effects are SYMPTOMS of a mismatch between a chosen solution―the means―and what was hoped in vain it would do―the end. Unfortunately, the common dominant level of thinking is improving the means―doing more and better of the same; doubling down; working smarter not harder.

            However, symptoms can only be reduced or eliminated by addressing the root cause(s), for which conducting a thorough DIAGNOSIS is the only appropriate response.

Here are some questions I want you to consider:

  • Why do you think you are experiencing Enterprise-Wide Problems at all?
  • Why do you think they are so Stubborn, in spite of your best efforts?
  • Why do you think these Stubborn Enterprise-Wide Problems seem to be without solution?
  • When was the last time you conducted a thorough root cause analysis in order to diagnose those unintended and unwanted outcomes?
  • Why do so few consultants, if any, offer or even suggest this critical service as an integral part of their problem solving repertoire?

            THE ROOT CAUSE can be summarized with the following quotes:

            Perfection of means and confusion of ends characterizes our age.

―Albert Einstein

            Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.

―The medical world

            Once you understand the root of the dysfunction, you do not need to explore its countless manifestations.

―Eckhart Tolle

            The KEY to solving Stubborn Enterprise-Wide Problems is NOT found in any cheap Off-the-shelf, One-size-fits-all, Silver-bullet, n-step Best-practice, that promises over-night success without any executive involvement.

            WHY? What makes me say so? Because, using another quote:

The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them.

―attributed to Dr. Albert Einstein

            Solving problems is NOT a matter of finding solutions but UNDERSTANDING how a business functions as an organic whole, a system, a network of nodes and their connections. After all, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, the End is inherent in the Means.

            Everything we do is thus influenced by the CONSCIOUSNESS with which we do it. So, how we THINK or PERCEIVE business determines its performance. This is the Universal law of cause and effect in which thought is the cause and real world experiences are its effect. Therefore, different outcomes are the result of a different level of thinking.
And therein lies the challenge; changing our level of thinking, listening to dissenting opinions, admitting you’re wrong. In other words, setting our ego aside. How else can we learn?

            And so, I wrote a book about changing my perception, and McGraw Hill published it.
Take a peek inside THE ROOT CAUSE           https://lnkd.in/gPjsn4wE

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