I have just concluded a 15-minute conversation with a highly respected and skilled, Fortune 1000 CXO that has convinced himself of the impossibilities of a directive given to him by his board. The entire conversation revolved around the unfeasibility that this task could be completed within the timeframe or budgets allocated. He asked my thoughts and I agreed with his grim outlook. I said, “In my experience, if YOU believe something is insurmountable, the likelihood of a positive outcome is negligible. However, I do believe that with the right team, partners and mindset that your directives can be accomplished on time and within budget”. He stated, “How can you say that I would fail, where you believe that you could succeed?” My rebuttal was simple, “Where you foresee an insurmountable obstacle, I see a challenge to overcome.”
A story that comes to mind is that of the “Stuck Truck”. In which an oversized truck becomes wedged midway through a busy DC tunnel during rush hour, by pure chance the location of the trucks dilemma was directly underneath gas and cable conduits that were secured just a few feet above the tunnels ceiling. DOT engineers, a towing crew and police spent hours are trying to figure out how to dislodge the truck safely without causing damage to the tunnel or endangering city workers. Several hours and two failed attempts by city crews resulted in the inevitable conclusion that it cannot be done without cutting away a section of both the bridge and the truck trailer. However, the observations of a 9 year old girl, seeing the incident, asked her daddy, what don’t they just let the air out of the tires? Thus, a little girl was able to solve a traffic nightmare and a perceived engineering impossibility by presenting a solution from a fresh, unbiased perspective.
I am not suggesting that every problem has a simple answer. What I am suggesting is not to look at a challenge with the forgone conclusion that failure would be the only possible outcome. I strongly recommend that you share your challenge with your peers, seek advice even from outside the field of where the problem resides or maybe even “crowd think a solution” though online forums. Inspiration is everywhere, if you can connect the dots between the unconventional thinking / abstract and real world challenges, new perspectives may take the place of previous impossibilities.
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