Originally posted on LinkedIn on December 19, 2023
Charles Kettering, former head of R&D at GM, is credited with the aphorism that “a problem well-defined is half-solved”.
The best part of being a business-focused technology law attorney is helping my clients better define problems. I derive joyful energy working with them to construct elegant, impactful solutions, shaping commercial outcomes while balancing strategy, product, profitability, public policy, and risk management concerns.
Alas, solving "life" can seem less straightforward, at least to me. I won’t bore you with struggles I have written about before, but these encounters have left me asking: how do we find solutions to life’s problems? If a problem well-defined is half-solved, how would we define the problem statement of life?
In my recent posts, I have examined the porosity between our work and personal lives. In these reflections I see traces of a problem statement for life:
- How do humans find meaning in work in the fourth industrial revolution? (“Why Work?”)
- What is the pathway to hope – what comes after loss? (“We are grieving.”)
- Why does workplace authenticity matter? (“Bridging the gap.”)
- What is the role of gratitude and forgiveness in human flourishing? (“Thanks for nothing.”)
- Do patience and humility deepen relationships? (“Second chances.”)
- What does the opportunity-oriented mindset unlock? (“Regarding HenryK.”)
- How do fear and purpose impact our life stories? (“Fear and Worth.”)
- Why does personal accountability matter? (“How I Broke the World.”)
(If you haven’t read them all, I invite you to go back and read any topic that interests you).
Even so, isn’t it awful to think of people as “problems”? Is it not wiser and better to see them as “opportunities”? So rather than frame doing life as a “problem statement”, I suggest we invest effort in defining our “opportunity statement”, since we are each full of untapped potential, unrealized dreams, and have so much to give.
Not just "us". *You* have so much to give. If nobody has told you that recently, I am telling you that now (and it doesn't matter what has come before, only what you do next: please read “Second Chances”).
To adapt Kettering: “an opportunity half-defined is only half-taken”. Can we better define our opportunity statement by grappling with, rather than running from, the difficult questions, such as the ones posed above?
Would doing this unlock our potential? Would we dare to dream bigger, to become more giving of self? If so, wouldn’t it be amazing, if someone, or something, could help us understand, define, and unlock our opportunity statement?
- J