Problem-Solving Skills Development

You're not born a natural problem-solver. It's a skill that needs developing with time: Especially if you want to build a successful digital business.  Most people don't realise it,  But a founder's job is mostly just problem solving on repeat...    Day in and day out.  Over the last few years, I’ve used different problem-solving models Depending on what needed my attention:  💸 Keeping revenue consistent and predictable. 🔧 Setting a strategy that’s clear and actionable. ⭐️ Building a culture people actually want to be part of.  ⚙️ Running smooth operations, even when I’m not in the room. As you can imagine, each one requires a completely different approach. These are the four models that I return to most often 👇 🔍 First Principles Thinking ↳ Strip everything back and start from zero. 1. What do I know for sure about this problem? 2. What’s just a habit or assumption — not a fact? 3. If I had to build a solution from zero, what would it look like? 4. What if I forgot how this is “usually done”? 5. What’s the simplest possible version of solving this? 🔄 Second-Order Thinking ↳ Zoom out and see the bigger picture. 1. If this works... what else does it trigger? 2. What does this look like in 6 months? 2 years? 3. Am I solving a short-term pain or creating a long-term problem? 4. What unintended consequences could show up later? 5. What would someone smarter than me worry about here? 🧠 Root Cause Analysis ↳ Fix an entire system, not just a symptom. 1. What exactly went wrong — and when? 2. What’s the first thing that caused this to break down? 3. If I asked “why?” five times… where would I end up? 4. Where have we solved this badly before? 5. What keeps making this problem reappear? ⚡️ The OODA Loop ↳ When you just need to take the leap. 1. What’s actually happening right now — no bias, just facts? 2. What do I need to unlearn before I can move forward? 3. Based on what I know, what’s the smartest next decision? 4. What small test can I run immediately? 5. What would I change if I had to act in the next 10 minutes? It's easy to panic when an issue arises,  But it will do nothing to actually solve the problem. To problem solve like the top 1%,  You need to stop reacting emotionally... And start responding strategically. If you want to stay sharp under pressure,  My weekly newsletter will help you solve real business problems. Join Step by Step and get actionable insights every Sunday.👇 https://lnkd.in/eXSNaDiu I have other important lessons and 30+ free learning resources for you. What major problem did you solve recently, and how? Share your story in the comments. ⬇️ ♻️ Repost to help your network become better problem-solvers.  And follow Chris Donnelly for more. 

This is a graph of the top core skills in 2030 from World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report. Several of the most important core skills may surprise you. But look closer and you'll how much emotional intelligence matters both now and in the future. Look at the importance of adaptability, leadership, empathy, motivation and self-awareness! These are the cornerstone pieces of emotional intelligence and they will grow in importance in direct proportion to the rise of AI. Analytical thinking and innovation leads to complex problem-solving and further critical thinking and analysis. While we may begin these activities as individuals, the collaborative nature of teamwork drives greater impact. The truth is, with advances in technology will come the need for outstanding leadership, self-awareness and an ability to effectively communicate ideas to others to give them life. Here are three key points to encapsulate this: ➡️Innovative technology is only as good as one's ability to effectively communicate and design it in such a way that people can use it. And we know that great communication begins with empathy and active listening ➡️The world's greatest ideas can die if you lack effective communicators who can influence others through emotionally intelligent leadership ➡️ Further, it's the collaborative nature of bringing people of diverse backgrounds in your organization TOGETHER to share ideas, ask questions, challenge assumptions and bridge gaps to form the very best solutions This takes connection. If people cannot relate to one another, it's entirely possible these conversations won't take place in the most effective and efficient way. Leaders-- invest time in meeting with your direct reports, teams and employees. Set ground rules in conversations and define expectations. Let employees know that all ideas are welcome. Lift people up, build camaraderie and empower people to share. It's this connection and collaboration that empowers the skills of the future.

After 9 years selling to large Enterprises at Salesforce, I learned the best way to help your customer is to become their customer first. Here are 5 examples of how to do it: 1. Call into their customer service department and see how easy or hard it is to get an issue resolved 2. Sign up for their newsletter and see the quality and quantity of the communications they send out 3. Use their mobile app or visit their online portals to see what the user experience is like 4. Visit their physical or online stores and see how their products are sold. 5. Read what their employees are saying on Glassdoor and identify where the employee experience could be improved Doing firsthand research will help you identify friction points, inefficiencies, and opportunities where your products or services can help improve the overall customer experience. This helps you develop a tailored point of view that will resonate with Senior Executives who are invested in better serving their customers. For example, if your POV is related to their online store, the VP of eCommerce would be a prime candidate to hear this message. The more you know about your customers, the more you know how, and where you can help them. Struggling to break into an account? Become their customer first and see where you can help most.

The VP of Engineering walked into the CEO's office with a spreadsheet. "We're spending $2.3 million annually on internal data requests." The CEO looked confused. "That's not on our P&L." They had been tracking it for months. - Engineers pulling reports for executives. - Product managers building one-off dashboards. - Designers creating charts for board meetings. None of it showed up in the budget. All of it was burning cash. "Show me the math," the CEO said. She opened her laptop: - 12 engineers at $180K: 15% of time on data requests - 8 PMs at $150K: 20% of time building dashboards - 4 designers at $120K: 10% of time on charts "We're accidentally running a data agency inside our product company." The CEO leaned back. "How much would it cost to fix this?" "Two analysts at $120K each. Self-service tools for $50K annually." "Total cost: $290K." The silence stretched. "We're spending $2.3 million to avoid spending $290K?" She nodded. The CEO closed his laptop. "What do you need to implement this?" Three months later, the culture had shifted. Leaders stopped asking for reports they didn't really need. Engineers were back to building products. The company was no longer subsidizing executive curiosity  with million-dollar talent. The invisible expense became visible. Once leadership saw the opportunity cost, behavior changed immediately. Sometimes the most expensive problems are the ones that don't show up on the P&L.

My top takeaways from executive coach Rachel Lockett: 1. The biggest skill gap in new leaders is knowing when to coach vs. when to tell people what to do. When you constantly provide answers, you train your team to bring you every problem instead of building their own problem-solving skills. The people you hire are experts in their domain—ask curious questions to help them reach their own solutions, which makes them more motivated and capable. Save direct advice for urgent situations or when someone genuinely lacks the necessary skills. 2. Use these four questions to coach someone to figure out the answer or themselves: When someone brings you a problem, use GROW: Goal, Reality, Options, and Way forward. Ask about their desired goal (what does success look like?), their current reality (where are you stuck?), possible options for a path forward (what could you do next?), and a concrete way forward (what will you actually do next?). These questions help people discover solutions they already have the context to find. You don’t need to follow this exact order; just use whichever type fits the moment. 3. Use this four-step framework for difficult conversations: Observations, Feelings, Needs, Requests. Start with factual observations anyone could verify (not interpretations). Share your feelings without blame (I felt anxious, confused, disconnected—not “I feel like you. . .”). Name your underlying human needs (clarity, collaboration, connection). Make a small, achievable request the other person can actually fulfill. Stay on your side of the net—talk about your experience, not what you assume about them. This lets you be bold without triggering defensiveness. 4. In conflict, aim for mutual understanding, not proving you’re right. When you enter a difficult conversation trying to convince someone they’re wrong, they become defensive and armor up. Instead, focus on helping the other person understand your experience so they can empathize and see clearly what’s happening. This shift from convincing to connecting creates space for genuine dialogue where both people can be heard and find solutions together. 5. Burnout happens when you spend too much time outside your natural strengths, not just from working too hard. For two weeks, write down the five things each day that energized you most and the five that drained you most. Look for patterns. People burn out not just from working hard but from spending too much time doing things that deplete them—even if they’re good at those things. 6. Co-founder relationships need scheduled maintenance time, like marriages. Sixty-five percent of startups fail because of co-founder conflict, not business problems. Set up regular check-ins—weekly touch-bases, monthly lunches, quarterly in-person reviews—to ask: How is this working for you? Are we aligned on vision and strategy? What am I doing that frustrates you? What’s gone unsaid?

Want to know the most underrated skill in HR? Pattern recognition Not policy Not process Not performance management It’s knowing how to read the signs Before they show up on a dashboard The subtle shift in someone’s tone The calendar that starts filling up with back-to-back 1:1s The team that goes from collaborative to cautious Pattern recognition is how you catch what data doesn’t say yet It’s how you stop issues from scaling It’s how you protect momentum Great HR leaders don’t chase symptoms They notice shifts They connect dots They act early Because by the time the problem is obvious It’s already expensive If you want to level up your HR team Don’t just teach them policy Teach them how to see :) #PatternRecognition #HRWithRange #EarlySignals #PeopleAndCulture #StrategicHR #PreventDontPatch

I went through 50+ briefs from brands like Apple, P&G, and Nike and created a template I now use with my clients. Here’s how it works: THE PROCESS • Schedule a 30-minute briefing call with the client. • Go question by question together. Record the call and take notes. • Ask for all the extra files and links that you need.  • Fill in the missing pieces and get to work. 1️⃣ BACKGROUND • Product: What’s the product and its value proposition? • Pain: What pain point does it solve? • Promise: How will it improve your users’ lives? • Proof: (e.g., results, experience, awards, testimonials, press.) • Purchasing: How and where do people buy the product? ＊＊ 2️⃣ CHALLENGE What's the main problem we're tackling? 💡 Follow this structure: [Business problem] because [customer behavior/belief]. (e.g., Our Gym’s revenue is down because people prefer to work out at home.) ＊＊ 3️⃣ GOALS •Main campaign/project goal: (e.g., get 100 new users) • Desired Action: What do we want people to do as a result of the advertising? • KPIs: How will we measure this? For example: Leads, Clicks, Conversion rate, ROI, Traffic, etc. I. {KPI} II.{KPI} III. {KPI} • Desired Beliefs: What do we want them to think/feel about the brand? I. {KPI} II. {KPI} III. {KPI} ＊＊ 4️⃣ AUDIENCE Who is our ideal customer? • Demographics: (Job, age, sex, income) • Behavior and feelings: (Consumption patterns, attitudes, habits, hobbies, hopes, fears, frustrations, responsibilities, daily schedule) • Where do they hang out? (Influencers to follow, communities, blogs, podcasts) • Stage of Awareness: I. Unaware II. Problem Aware III. Solution Aware IV. Product Aware V. Most Aware ＊＊ 5️⃣ COMPETITION AND MARKET • Alternatives: What will the prospect buy, do, or think if they don’t choose you? • Competition's advantage: What is making the competition successful? • Position: What is the brand’s position in the marketplace? (e.g., underdog, premium, etc.) • Trends: What trends or events make the product relevant right now? • Unique attributes: What features/capabilities do we have that alternatives do not? • Enemy: What or who are you against? ＊＊ 6️⃣ PREVIOUS MARKETING • What's been working so far: • What hasn’t been working: ＊＊ 7️⃣ PRACTICAL • Project Timeline: • Available resources: (e.g., In-house designers, stock photos, and software subscriptions.) • Legal considerations: • Production budget: • Things that must be included: (Taglines, slogans, images, etc.) • Media preferences: Where will they run the ads? ＊＊ 8️⃣ Additional Material Ask for some (or all) of the following materials: • Tone of Voice guidelines • Visual guidelines (fonts, colors, logo) • Links to previous campaigns • An intro to your Head of Sales or a BDR • Pitch decks • Interviews and customer surveys • Testimonials and reviews • PR articles and podcast episodes • User tests • Demo recordings • Relevant articles and publications ＊＊ And that's it! I hope you find it helpful :)

I hired a sales coach last month. First session, he asked to observe my discovery call. I was confident: - I had my 27 discovery questions ready - My demo was perfectly polished - My objection-handling guide was open The call started well. But 10 minutes in, the coach passed me a note: "STOP TALKING." I was confused, but I paused. The prospect filled the silence: "Actually, what I'm really struggling with is getting various stakeholders aligned. We keep having the same conversations over and over." This wasn't on my script. After the call, the coach explained: "Your discovery process is all about YOU getting information. Not about helping THEM discover their own problems." This hit me hard. I had been: - Asking questions to fill MY knowledge gaps - Taking notes to build MY sales strategy - Following MY playbook regardless of their responses The next discovery call, I tried something different: Instead of firing questions, I created a collaborative digital space where the prospect could: - Map out their own buying committee - Prioritize their challenges visually - Document their questions in real-time - Outline what success would look like to each stakeholder The call took half the time. The prospect did most of the talking. And they left with clarity they didn't have before. They signed 3 weeks later. What changed? Old discovery: Interrogation disguised as conversation New discovery: Collaborative problem-solving Your prospects don't need your questions. They need clarity. And often, they'll sell themselves if you just create the right space. Agree?

𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝟱𝟬+ 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲. From my personal experience, major things many folks can improve about how to approach an interview - ● When the interviewer is explaining the problem, listen carefully. Ask for clarifications if there is any doubt in the problem statement. It's fine to take 1-2 extra minutes in this step. As if you understand the problem incorrectly, then you would waste many more extra minutes. Also sometimes it's possible that the problem asked is different from a very common standard problem in a nuanced way, if you try to hurry too much in such cases you can mistake the problem for the standard version. ● After listening to the problem statement, think through it from all angles for a couple of minutes. You don't have to speak the first thing that comes to your mind (balance is tricky for this, as I will also add in the next point). Take a couple of minutes to see if there are any non-obvious things that didn't strike you the first time. ● The tricky thing with the previous point is that there should be a balance. If you have thought for let's say 5-7 minutes and any solution better than the straightforward brute force solution is not coming to your mind, then you should convey that solution to the interviewer. One because time is limited during the interview, you shouldn't keep thinking indefinitely. Secondly sometimes when you reach a dead end in thinking, then just explaining your current version can help you progress further. Also, the interviewer has the chance to ask questions that can help you in improving the current solution. ● Explaining why your proposed solution is correct is as important as (maybe more) telling the correct solution. Many folks underestimate it, they think that it's all about telling the correct solution. But explaining it is very important because that tells the interviewer about how you think and also that you actually understand the problem being discussed here. Additionally, arguably this is one of the skills which is directly applicable to software developer roles. How you approach a problem is very important because, unlike algorithmic interviews in actual development, you will often face open-ended situations, where your way of approaching will matter the most. ● Thinking through the edge cases. After you are done coding your solution, take a couple of examples to dry run through your code, you can also walk the interviewer through your code during this process. If your code is working correctly on the examples you tried, then try to think of any possible edge cases your code may suffer from. If you found this useful, like this post to encourage me to write more such posts. Disclaimer - All opinions expressed here are solely personal. #interviewpreparation #interviewprep #google #datastructures #algorithms #interviewskills

🌟 Core Qualities of a Good Hotelier or Service Provider 1. Customer-Centric Mindset • Empathy: Truly understanding a guest’s needs and feelings. • Anticipation: Predicting guest needs before they ask. • Personalization: Remembering returning guests’ preferences (e.g., favorite room, pillow type). 🟨 Example: A guest mentions it’s their anniversary during check-in. A great hotelier surprises them with a complimentary cake and a personalized note in their room. 2. Communication Skills • Clear, courteous, and confident communication—both verbal and non-verbal. • Active listening: Making guests feel heard and valued. • Multilingual ability can be a strong advantage in international hotels. 3. Attention to Detail • Spotting things others might miss—wrinkled bed sheets, dusty furniture, or a misaligned welcome letter. • Being meticulous ensures consistent quality and prevents small issues from becoming major problems. 4. Professionalism and Poise • Always calm under pressure. • Neatly groomed and appropriately dressed. • Upholding the brand’s reputation through every interaction. 5. Cultural Sensitivity • Understanding and respecting cultural differences. • Tailoring service style accordingly. 6. Problem-Solving Attitude • Quick thinking in crisis situations (e.g., power outages, overbookings). • Always looking for solutions, not excuses. • Owning mistakes and making it right with the guest. 🚀 Going the Extra Mile: How to Excel Beyond Expectations ✨ Surprise and Delight • Offering unexpected treats or upgrades. • Small gestures like handwritten notes or warm greetings can create memorable experiences. 💡 Proactive Service • Replacing a guest’s umbrella before it rains. • Offering travel suggestions and personalized itineraries. 🤝 Building Relationships • Regularly engaging with frequent guests. • Remembering names, stories, and preferences to create familiarity and trust. 🧭 Qualities of a Great Hotel Manager 1. Inspirational Leadership • Leading by example—showing humility, passion, and work ethic. • Coaching and empowering staff instead of just managing them. 2. Operational Expertise • Understanding all hotel departments: front office, housekeeping, F&B, etc. • Using data to improve efficiency (e.g., occupancy reports, guest feedback). 3. Financial Acumen • Budgeting, cost control, forecasting, and increasing profitability without sacrificing quality. 4. Crisis Management • Being prepared for emergencies (fire drills, COVID protocols). • Transparent communication with staff and guests during challenging times. 5. Training & Development • Investing in staff growth. • Encouraging continuous learning and rewarding top performers.