What's Your Problem

To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve

By: Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

Narrated by: Daniel Henning

Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

Are you solving the right problems?

Have you or your colleagues ever worked hard on something, only to find out you were focusing on the wrong problem entirely? Most people have. In a survey, 85 percent of companies said they often struggle to solve the right problems. 

The consequences are severe: Leaders fight the wrong strategic battles. Teams spend their energy on low-impact work. Startups build products that nobody wants. Organizations implement “solutions” that somehow make things worse, not better. Everywhere you look, the waste is staggering. 

As Peter Drucker pointed out, there’s nothing more dangerous than the right answer to the wrong question.

There is a way to do better.

The key is reframing, a crucial, underutilized skill that you can master with the help of this book. Using real-world stories and unforgettable examples like “the slow elevator problem,” author Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg offers a simple, three-step method - Frame, Reframe, Move Forward - that anyone can use to start solving the right problems.

Reframing is not difficult to learn. It can be used on everyday challenges and on the biggest, trickiest problems you face.

In this visually engaging, deeply researched book, you’ll learn from leaders at large companies, from entrepreneurs, consultants, nonprofit leaders, and many other breakthrough thinkers. It’s time for everyone to stop barking up the wrong trees. Teach yourself and your team to reframe, and growth and success will follow.

©2020 Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg (P)2020 Recorded Books

Reframing Tactics

I decided to pickup this book based on a brief mention in Trillion Dollar Coach and I am glad that I did. I work with small business owners to help solve problems and picked up several new ideas and approaches. It was refreshing to me to be challenged to think several times during a listen. Often times I am asking my own questions to consider as I listen to a book but somehow felt more engaged listening to this. I typically only give a star rating but felt this book deserves more reviews. Recommended

Helpful tips for approaching and solving problems

Book presents an interesting approach for problem solving. It can be look as additional complementary approach to lean problem solving. Before solving a problem - make sure that you understand the problem you are trying to solve and it is a right problem. Book gives practical guidance to how you use this reframing approach, which is always a plus for any business book.

Good not great and this thing throws me off

Not a spectacular book but a good friend reminding you about other perspectives and how to actively look at things -and your self- in different ways. Like that. However, the narrator makes a big mistake when he softens his voice in a way that makes me cringe every time he quotes a woman, even when their Harvard research etc is presented. Wow.

Super useful book on problem solving

Well written book with good illustrated stories. If you are looking for a way to be a better problem solver, check out this book.

Smart, funny, and practical

This was such an delightful listen. The insights in this book are thoughtful, clear, and instantly useful. What’s more, I found myself laughing or smiling all along the way, which made me want to engage with the topic more and keep thinking about it even when I wasn’t reading. I learned new things and had new ideas even though I thought I was already very familiar with problem solving research and techniques.

The narration was also clear, playful, and matched the tone of the book perfectly.

Insightful and challenging

This was an interesting read, that might expand the mind even of an advanced product manager. Good tools and insightful real-life cases.

What was lacking is the personal story behind the book, which made it seem a little stale and “textbookish” rather than a gripping read.

Blueprint for ‘lenses-ing’ problems!

This book coaches you to adopt a mindset that seeks fist to look at one’s own lenses when faced with problems before moving in a solution space.

Eye opening and Actionable

Enjoyed both the authors approach and the examples used to support and explain his approach. I would encourage novice or experienced thinkers to explore the tactics and reasons behind them while exploring your own problems or opportunities.

Reframe your problems

I found this book to be a pertinent reminder of how to, and not to, approach problem solving. I use the term reminder strategically since the notions that surround these principles have been with us for decades. That said, the thoughts and practical advice offered in this book are invaluable for those struggling to tackle even the most complex issues.

My only negative thought regarding this book is the narrators incessant need to imitate female dialogue, I found this to be somewhat distracting and insulting - surely their name will suffice for me to understand who is speaking or being referenced.

Amazing insights on problems

I work in software design 'solving' problems everyday. I suspect we all have a tendency to see a problem and dive straight into solutioneering...I know I do. But this book made me take an initial step back, refine the problem using the Problem Canvas and really ask 'is this the right problem to solve'. The wasted time and resources this book could save is immeasurable, and it's a great fun listen too. I'm following it up with The Catalyst by Jonah Berger and have developed very real applicable skills to work and life problems. Most highly recommended!