Cold gray morning. Business man exits his condo finding his car buried in last night’s ice and snow. He uses his briefcase and keycard to extract his car from its frosty shell. He clears off only the critical parts – windows, lights, and windshield wipers. He struggles to stay warm and keep his footing on the slippery ground.
Finally… cold and tired… he cracks a smile of victory. Finished!
[RSS Reader Link To Video | Requires QuickTime | View Via YouTube]
This guy does one of the worst things you can do… he spends valuable time and effort solving the wrong problem. Now his investment is doubled and his return halved.
Can you blame him? He does what we all would do. He relies on his memory and gut. He came out to his car, using the assumptions and knowledge he was comfortable with.
- I parked here last night.
- I remember being just outside the door.
- I was happy to get such a convenient spot.
He was a bit thrown off… A bit overwhelmed by the problem of the snow. He just wanted to get the car cleared and onto his routine.
If you play the commercial again, you see he actually looks briefly at the other (his) car to his right, second guesses… but then starts digging into the car in front of him.
He suffers from “Fire, Ready, Aim” syndrome. The sequence should be “Ready, Aim, Fire.”
- Ready – Do I have the ability?
- Aim – Do I have all the information? Am I targeted? Checked my facts?
- Fire – Execute, Implement.
This guy “aimed” last (used his remote unlock), instead of first. He executed using assumption, not fact. He was in such a hurry to get past the crisis, he made a poor judgement.
Does your company suffer from “Fire, Ready, Aim” syndrome? Do you gather all the relevant information before jumping in? Double check your assumptions? Does the crisis of a problem overwhelm critical thinking?
Make sure… if you’re going to spend time properly solving a problem… it is the right problem.
“Bad Morning” is an ad produced in 2004 by McCann for Statoil fueling stations. Statoil is part of Norwegian based StatoilHydro. They are the largest offshore oil and gas company in the world.
Video Source: Originally found on YouTube. But sourced back to Denmark-based Stevan Treshow Filmproduction
Great illustration of an important point. Nice work.
If you are spending time solving the wrong problem than you probably are not going to go anywhere. It is definitely a waste of time and you should be looking for the right problem to solve. It is great that you pointed this out as so many people are wasting time doing the wrong things and not getting the results they’re looking for.
Thanks for giving me new tactics I can implement. Information was very useful.
I have to disagree that this is a problem of solving the wrong problem. The problem was getting his car unstuck (or, perhaps, getting to work on time). He solved the correct problem, but in the wrong way. This is akin to asking the janitor at work to approve your time-off request instead of asking your boss.
I enjoyed and agree with the underlying point.
Also, the ad ends “Bad Morning?” which implies he’s at his home. Why doesn’t he own a snow scraper? Now he’s asking the janitor to approve his time-off request by ‘writing’ in a foggy bathroom mirror.
Sorry to be picky