3rd Component of Resilient Leadership:  Resourceful Problem Solving

People who are resourceful problem solvers have at least two things going for them: 

First is a belief that there is more than one way to do almost anything. 

 

I am a bit of a techno geek.  Put me in a basketball game and I have a little trouble running and dribbling at the same time.  Put me in the outfield in a softball game and don’t be surprised if the ball lands beside me, instead of my glove.  However, give me some new technology and I’m at home.  One thing I have learned from working with technology is something my mom tried to teach me when I was a boy, when hi-tech was the stereo phonograph. It is simply this:

“There is more than one way to skin a cat.”

 

People who are high in Resourceful Problem Solving don’t settle for failure.  They won’t accept the statement “we tried that once and it doesn’t work,”  they are able to think “out-of-the-box” and imagine alternate solutions.  Roger Firestien says “Successful, creative people grow through criticism and failure.  . . .  Many of the most creative and effective people of our time made some major blunders.  Give yourself permission to make a few mistakes.”  (Leading on the Creative Edge, p. 154,155)

That is the theme of an animated movie which reflects the personal philosophy of Walt Disney.  In “Meet the Robinsons” the central theme is: “keep moving forward,” along with the reality that failure is a normal and necessary step on the way to success.  Resilient Leaders who are strong in Resourceful Problem-Solving see their problems as opportunities waiting for a solution, and their failures as bricks in the path to that solution.

The second part of Resourceful Problem Solving is a discipline of constant personal improvement.  Here is an excerpt from Leading on the Creative Edge:

Several years ago, a study was done on the reading habits of scientists.  Researchers grouped the scientists into three categories.  The first group was labeled “innovative”; these scientists exhibited the highest creative productivity as measured by patents.  The second group was labeled “productive:’ these scientists were known for being technically proficient.  The third group was labeled  “slugs”; they were neither innovative nor productive.

The study found that “slugs” read almost nothing.  The “productive” scientists read almost exclusively in their field, while the “innovative” scientists (who were not always as technically up-to-date as their “productive” colleagues) read in a variety of fields.  In fact, a great deal of the latter group’s reading was outside of their area of expertise.  These scientists read everything from science fiction to technical journals, from Popular Mechanics to Psychology Today, and therefore enjoyed a much richer storehouse of information from which to generate new concepts. 

                                                     Leading from the Creative Edge, 28-29.

The lesson here for those with ears to hear is that Resourceful Problem Solving needs a wide variety of input, resulting from a discipline of personal growth and improvement.

I’ll end this section with this thought:  “The only people who can change the world are people who want to.  And not everybody does.”  Hough MacLeod