Stop Guessing – The 9 Behaviors of Great Problem-Solvers

Stop Guessing
128 Pages
ISBN 978-1626569867

Bad problem‐solving is everywhere and costs individuals and society huge amounts of time and money. Problems persist because people have only been trained to solve easy problems, usually by guessing. This guessing approach is rarely successful when applied to hard problems. When problem‐solving efforts fail, people often find expensive or painful ways to live with or work around the problems they face, sometimes growing so accustomed to problems that they no longer even notice them.

Great problem-solvers are armed with a set of behaviors, not just a methodical approach, that allows them to avoid guessing. They consistently solve hard problems to root cause in a way that can seem magical to most people.

Author Nat Greene has spent over 20 years solving hard problems, and developing and leading great problem-solvers. In this time he has found that great problem‐solvers consistently exhibit certain behaviors when solving hard problems. In Stop Guessing, you will learn what the behaviors are, why they’re so important to success, and how to begin adopting them. Developing your strength in these behaviors will help you to: • Have confidence to solve the hard problems you face • Easily build alignment to implement the right solution • Identify more important and valuable opportunities that are being ignored • Help others to be better problem‐solvers • Stop wasting time and money, and trying your patience

Each of the 9 behaviors comes with stories of great problem‐solving in action, including a best‐in-class chemical processor that had hundreds of millions of dollars of upside hidden behind a hard problem, a losing baseball team without the budget for star players, and the scourge of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nat Greene

About Nat Greene (Boston, Massachusetts Author)

Nat Greene

Nat is a business leader, author, and champion of great problem-solving. He helps smart people make radically better decisions and all his activities and interests are tied to this mission.

Nat helped found and run Stroud international and is the author of two books. Wedged is a look into some of the drivers behind political dysfunction in the US and Stop Guessing explores the behaviors of great problem-solvers.

Nat's upbringing ingrained an intense drive to help people develop an Abundant Thinking mindset, understanding that more is always possible. Nat was born and raised in Hong Kong, during a period of immense growth in social mobility, influenced by not only dreamers but also by those looking to push educational and professional boundaries. His father, a professor of material science, taught him about problem-solving at a young age by taking him around the city and helping him to explore what was broken and why.

Nat's curiosity, determination, and passion extends beyond his work to every corner of his life. He enjoys spending time with his family, and learns a great deal from his children, who are not bound by the same pre-conceived notions and experiences that constrain many adults. Nat, his wife, and four children reside in Marblehead, Massachusetts by the ocean, a symbol of infinite possibility that inspires him.

Nat has a Masters of Engineering from Oxford University and studied design, manufacturing and management at Cambridge University, in addition to executive education coursework in Harvard Business School's Owner/President Management program.