How To Breed An Innovative Business Idea — #29 of 31 Proven Skills [Research]
Skill #29 Eliminate the Problem Cause
Sometimes the problem is not only known but it is also exposed and susceptible to attack. This introduces an appealing possibility — removing it altogether. When a problem is an open target, the best and, prospectively, most permanent innovative strategy is to ‘eliminate’ it
Now You See It …
As with nearly all of the 31 personal innovative skills, Skill #29 Eliminate the Problem Cause is not a skill that has emerged only in recent times. A compelling illustration of Skill #29 at work can be found more than 300 years ago.
It comes from the region of Apulia in Italy and concerns the Trullo — a traditional, dry-stone hut with a conical roof. Admittedly, it is possible that the illustration may only be legendary, but it has the ring of plausibility and demonstrates the principle underpinning Skill #29 extremely well. The Trullo huts were built without any mortar or cement. Folklore has it that the driving motive behind the mortar-less construction was the avoidance of taxation. Tax inspectors visited periodically to levy taxes on constructed dwellings and the local populace decided that an effective way to evade such an imposition was to construct dwellings that could easily be dismantled when the tax assessors were in town and then re-constructed once they had passed through. Whether literally true or not, the Trulli story is a fitting example of employing Skill #29 Eliminate the Problem Cause.
If you like the feeling that comes with dealing with a problem emphatically, and often it will be for once and for all, Skill #29 will appeal. Instead of having to tackle the problem or its effect, both are rendered harmless because the cause of the problem no longer exists once Skill #29 is exercised.
Other Examples of Eliminating the Causes of Problems
A shared problem of every contemporary business is the need to reduce its climate footprint. This can be an ongoing challenge but ultimately, the best response to all eco-unfriendly causes is to eliminate them completely. A manufacturer of household items focuses on the pollution disposal problems caused by the residual internal cardboard tube within items such as paper towels and toilet rolls. Through design improvements, it succeeds in producing products whose utility is unchanged despite the removal of the inner supporting cylinder. This is a straightforward example of an innovative application of eliminating the problem cause.
Personal efficiency is also an area where significant improvements can be won by eliminating the cause of a time-wasting problem. A classic instance of this is phone tag: you and an acquaintance repeatedly fail to get hold of each other to hold a conversation. Returned messages result in returned messages. The cause of this problem can be eliminated very simply by installing the following message on your phone: “Please leave a detailed message and I will get back to you if you need me to”. This instruction encourages callers to be succinct and precise about what they want, leading to the satisfactory completion of a verbal exchange, albeit remotely.
Problems can be intimidating and usually require determination and effort if they are to be overcome. Dealing with them adequately is the principal task of course but an extra dimension of satisfaction is forthcoming if the cause of the problem is eliminated. No matter how threatening a problem may be, if it is open to attack, it can be completely eradicated.
Takeaway
*Thousands of categorized innovative business ideas can be found at Sebir.com
