DAY 1
PROBLEM SOLVERS By Jeff Shinabarger Founder of Plywood People and author of More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity. @shinabarger “The one who sees the problem has the responsibility to fix it.” - Simon Mainwaring
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very Wednesday in seventh grade math, we explored the Problem of the Day. It was my favorite part of school that day. The Problem of the Day was always a clever issue phrased in such a way as to trick us into an incorrect solution. Spotting the tricks and uncovering the real answer felt more like a game than math. If we got the answer right, we would get extra credit for the week. Little did I know that twenty years later I would still enjoy the game, that I would actually build my life around solving problems. But that is what I get the opportunity to do. When we as leaders start taking responsibility for problems, we turn into actionable leaders. We move from potential to action. From idea to implementation. From problem toward solution. When we see problems, we feel a responsibility to fix them. Many people ask me to define what social innovation is. Some people think it is about social media. Others think it is related to new inventions. Some think it is a current title for owning your own business. While it may contain parts of all those things, the real definition is simple: social innovators solve problems. Social innovators are finding solutions and
addressing the most pressing societal needs of our generation. When you think of one of these leaders, you instantly associate his or her accomplishments and name with the problem that person is solving. Let me give you a few examples in our current world. You may or may not agree with the importance of a person’s cause or agree with his approach, but you know him by the problem he is addressing and understand that he’s pursuing a problem and giving his life to meeting a broken thing that needs to be fixed. Muhammad Yunus: microfinance. Blake Mycoskie: shoes. Gary Haugen: human trafficking. Scott Harrison: clean water. Jason Russell: Joseph Kony. Wendy Kopp: education. Susan B. Komen: breast cancer. Al Gore: climate change. Problem solvers don’t just have résumés; they have stories of solutions that everyone can declare and celebrate. Most people flee problems. Problems frustrate. Problems throw up red flags that cause the people facing the problems to throw up the white flag of surrender. But there is another way to look at problems. Problems create a distraction from accomplishing something significant. As Henry Ford explained, “Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than trying to solve
Solving Problems
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