The Thinker's Toolkit: 14 Powerful Techniques for Problem Solving

We view the world through a dense veil of burdensome, thought-warping emotions, biases, and mind-sets. Through this veil we sometimes perceive cause-and-effect and other “patterns” where there are none. We are prone to grace these nonexistent patterns with self-satisfying explanations with whose validity we are instinctively unconcerned. Finally, w

Not surprisingly, the solution we intuitively favor is, more often than not, the first one that seems satisfactory. Economists call this phenomenon “satisficing” (a merging of “satisfy” and “suffice”).

Our analysis usually focuses on the solution we intuitively favor; we therefore give inadequate attention to alternative solutions.

(That is precisely what happened at the meeting of Family Frozen Foods managers. Darfield began the discussion with the decision—a conclusion—that the solution to the backlog in deliveries was to expand the fleet of delivery trucks.)

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ,

it. It’s the familiar trial-and-error technique. We humans therefore tend to muddle through in problem solving, enjoying moderate success, living with our failures, and trusting in better luck next time.

How we define a problem usually determines how we analyze it. It sends us in a particular direction. And how we analyze a problem—the direction we take —absolutely determines whether we find a solution and what the quality of that solution is.

That day she learned the artist’s secret; what you perceive depends on who you are. Analytical thinkers have generally assumed that we perceive reality as it is; they then use a process of abstract reasoning to interpret that perception. O’Keeffe realized that the perception is the interpretation. It rests on an internal reality that governs the me

Remember the anecdote about the guy who thought his water bed was leaking? He defined the problem as “How can I fix the leak?” His analysis was guided by that definition—by that statement—of the problem. As it turned out, he had defined the problem incorrectly. He should have asked, “What is the source of the water on my blanket?” He should have ma