Business Problem Solving

If you read (or listen to) nothing else on inspiring and executing innovation, listen to these ten articles. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you innovate effectively.

Humans have built hugely complex societies and technologies, but most of us don't even know how a pen or a toilet works. How have we achieved so much despite understanding so little? Cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us.

Mission Economy looks at the challenges facing us in a radically new way. Global warming, pollution, dementia, obesity, gun violence, mobility—these environmental, health, and social dilemmas are huge, complex, and have no simple solutions. Mariana Mazzucato argues we need to think bigger and mobilize our resources in a way that is as bold as inspirational as the moon landing—this time to the most "wicked" social problems of our time. We can only begin to find answers if we fundamentally restructure capitalism to make it inclusive, sustainable, and driven by innovation.

Não importa o objetivo, não importa o destino, a jornada para qualquer coisa que você queira começa sempre com um único passo. Esse passo se chama a Única Coisa. Você quer menos. Menos distrações, menos estresse e menos correria. Quer saber lidar com a enxurrada diária de e-mails, notícias e reuniões que suga sua energia e prejudica seu desempenho, gerando frustração e sobrecarga. E você quer mais. Mais produtividade. Mais qualidade no que faz. Mais tempo para dedicar a si mesmo e ao que realmente importa para você.

There is an old saying about problems that you may have heard before, "There are no problems, only opportunities." To this simple-minded approach, Bill Gibson says, "Hogwash." Problems do exist. And you need to prepare for them and understand them before you can overcome them. Even the great problem solvers can't make problems go away, but they often find opportunities linked to them.

No one wins at everything they try. But any setback, whether professional or personal, can become a step forward with the right tools and mind-set to turn loss into a gain. Drawing on nearly 50 years of leadership experience, Maxwell provides a roadmap for winning by examining the 11 elements that constitute the "DNA" of people who succeed in the face of problems, failure, and losses. Learning is not easy during down times. It takes discipline to do the right thing when something goes wrong.

Even the Odds helps us understand the broader implications of risk - and how it guides our decision-making - so that we can improve outcomes across multiple facets of our lives, from our businesses and investments, to the personal choices we make.

It isn't enough to just do your job anymore. In order to thrive in today's marketplace, all of us, regardless of our role, have to be ready to generate brilliant ideas on demand. Business creativity expert Todd Henry explains how to establish effective practices that unleash your creative potential. Born out of his consultancy and his popular podcast, Henry has created a practical method for discovering your personal creative rhythm.

In this revised and expanded edition of his groundbreaking Thinkertoys, creativity expert Michael Michalko reveals life-changing tools that will help you think like a genius. From the linear to the intuitive, this comprehensive handbook details ingenious creative-thinking techniques for approaching problems in unconventional ways. Through fun and thought-provoking exercises, you'll learn how to create original ideas that will improve your personal life and your business life.

Here at last is a clear, easy-to-follow interpretation of the classic Chinese text The Art of War by Sun Tzu which incorporates modern business lessons to make this relevant and accessible to today's executive facing strategic and competitive challenges. For years, business schools and professional consultants have turned to Sun Tzu's 2,500-year-old Chinese text for its invaluable commentary on such topics as leadership, strategy, organization, competition and cooperation.

Jobs to Be Done gives you a clear-cut framework for thinking about your business, outlines a road map for discovering new markets, new products, and new services, and helps you generate creative opportunities to innovate your way to success.

Value stream mapping - an essential but underused methodology - is a proven approach to help you visualize and resolve disconnects, redundancies, and gaps in your value delivery system. More than a tool to eliminate operational waste, value stream mapping is a highly effective means to transform leadership thinking, define strategy and priorities, and create customer-centric work flow. Business performance improvement experts Karen Martin and Mike Osterling present a practical way to deeply understand how work gets done - in any environment - and how to design improved work systems.

We can’t imagine Superman without his X-ray vision and train-stopping strength. And what would Flash be without his speed? Yet, many entrepreneurs are stuck, running their businesses with their superpowers untapped. Fear of increasing costs and loss of control stop them in their tracks, and even those who open the door to their secret strength often don’t know how to properly utilize it.

Plenty of books dwell on the faults in our decision-making or offer advice on how to make better choices. The Elements of Choice goes one step further and explains how we can design better end-to-end decision-making processes. Going well beyond the familiar concepts of nudges and defaults, Eric J. Johnson offers a comprehensive, systematic guide to creating effective choice architectures, the environments in which decisions are made.

A leading economist charts the indirect road to happiness and wealth. Using dozens of practical examples from the worlds of business, politics, science, sports, literature, even parenting, esteemed economist John Kay proves a notion that feels at once paradoxical and deeply commonsensical: The best way to achieve any complex or broadly defined goal-from happiness to wealth to profit to preventing forest fires-is the indirect way.

Sebastian Bailey and Octavius Black, founders of Mind Gym, help you change your mental default settings through a series of workouts; that have been tested and experienced by more than one million people from around the world and from companies such as Google, NBCUniversal, Shell, Pfizer, and PepsiCo. This hands-on guide presents a fitness program for the mind that tackles the most common challenges at work and home.

Unprecedented access to infinite solutions has led us to realize that having all of the answers is not the answer. From innovation teams to creativity experts to crowdsourcing, we've turned from one source to another, spending endless cycles pursuing piecemeal solutions to each challenge we face. What if your organization had an effective systematic approach to deal with any problem?

This is humanity’s last chance. Centuries of greed, pride, and hate have sent humankind hurtling toward disaster, far from our original purpose. There is only one solution that can reset the compass and right the ship, and that answer is only two words. With time running out, it’s up to David Ponder and a cast of history’s best and brightest minds to uncover this solution before it is too late. The catch? They are allowed only five tries to solve the ominous challenge.

Organizational psychologist and executive coach Rebecca Newton has found that even her most successful clients still want more of one quality: gravitas. They want their words to carry weight, to have a positive, lasting impact on those around them. Gravitas can seem like an elusive, intangible quality, but it isn't about adopting the style of another or being someone you're not. Newton draws on extensive research and experience coaching business leaders to show what underpins authentic gravitas and how anyone can develop it.

Ever wished you could navigate the complexities of arguments with grace and precision, uncovering hidden truths and crafting compelling arguments? The Socratic method, a powerful tool for critical thinking honed by the ancient philosopher Socrates, holds the key to unlocking your inner wisdom and becoming a master of persuasion. But mastering this method goes beyond simply asking questions. It delves into the art of crafting inquiries that unravel assumptions, expose hidden biases, and lead to profound insights.