Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

The longer you make the process, the less you’ll use it

More than fifty years’ of research has shown that reframing is an exceptionally powerful skill—and not just for solving problems.

The way you frame a problem determines which solutions you come up with.

First of all, notice how this problem isn’t presented to you neutrally. Like most of the problems we encounter in the real world, someone has already framed it for you: the problem is that the elevator is slow.

At the heart of the method is a counterintuitive insight: sometimes, to solve a hard problem, you have to stop looking for solutions to it. Instead, you must turn your attention to the problem itself—not just to analyze it, but to shift the way you frame it.

you can’t hope to frame a problem correctly unless you get your hands dirty and test your thinking in the real world

Most people have a bias toward action. When faced with a problem, they immediately switch into solution mode, rejecting analysis in favor of rapid forward movement: Why are we still talking about the problem? Let’s find a solution, people!

In fact, the very idea that a single “root cause” exists can be misleading. Problems typically have multiple causes and can be addressed in many ways

n contrast, people who create and consider multiple options make the wrong call only a third of the time—and this holds true even if they end up sticking with their original plan in the end.

But there is a catch: the options you consider have to be genuinely different