My Second Principle: Seek to Understand

This is part of a series outlining the principles I run my business by. Miss the first part? You can read it on my blog here.

The second principle I use to run my business is "Seek to Understand". I have been solving problems for many years, from earning my chemical engineering degree to supporting customers at Epic. One thing that holds true no matter what type of problem you solve is that you cannot solve a problem unless you understand it. If you consider a business to be a series of problems that need to be solved then understanding those problems is the key to successfully running the business.

So what exactly are you supposed to understand? I have a few things in mind:

• Understand differences

  • What is currently happening compared to what you want to happen? To me this is the essence of problem solving. A problem is the difference between what is and what should be. Figuring out that difference is the key to solving the problem. For example, let's say you're feeling overwhelmed at work. There could be a few different reasons for that: maybe it's the difference between you can accomplish versus what you're expected to accomplish or maybe it's the difference between what you're trained to handle versus what you're expected to handle. Figuring out where the disconnect is will guide you to the correct solution.

• Understand consequences

  • I've never been very good at chess but I've always been fascinated by the game. One thing that I find impressive about expert chess players is how they are able to think several moves ahead. I try to do the same thing with my decisions - if I do X then Y or Z are likely to happen but if I do A then B or C are likely to happen. It's worth keeping in mind that you can't have perfect accuracy with your predictions. You should make the best decisions based on the information you have available. It won't always be the correct one. Add that experience to your playbook and use it for future decisions.

• Understand patterns

  • Humans are wired to look for patterns in everything. When I need to troubleshoot something, one of my tactics is to take an issue and fit it to a pattern. That way, when an issue comes up, instead of trying to solve it from scratch I can say "Oh, it's one of these kinds of issues." For example, let's say I'm having a stressful day. Instead of treating it as a new problem I can choose to say "Oh, I'm having one of these kinds of days" and think about strategies I've used to handle difficult days in the past.

• Understand people

  • My favorite habit out of the "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is "Seek first to understand, then be understood". This is specifically about dealing with people and I believe is the heart of good customer service. When you listen to people and really understand them you can really work well together with them. Generally speaking - people are not out to get you. Whenever I see someone do something that I find confusing, I try to think through their thought process and try to understand why they would do that thing. If someone is acting difficult I try to give them the benefit of the doubt and empathize with them before reacting to them.

What other topics do you seek to understand in life and work? Feel free to email me.