“If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.”
Steve Jobs
There’s an old joke. A man was walking through the desert and found an old brass lamp. He rubbed the lamp, and a genie popped out of it.
“Listen,” said the genie, “I am too old, so I can grant any wish, but only one. So, think carefully.”
The man thought for an hour or so and then said: “I wish I had everything!”
“No problem, man,” the genie replied. A soft chime sounded, and the genie said: “Now you already had everything!”
We can paraphrase Steve Job’s statement from the epigraph as “If you define the task incorrectly, you’ll never find the solution. Or, you can find it, but it will be a solution to another task.”
That’s what happens when companies start crafting a strategy. They begin with the wrong goals and pick the wrong tools, and then they are left puzzling about what went wrong.
If the engine’s dead, no point in pumping the tires. Fix the engine.
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