Invisible Solutions

About the Author

Stephen M. Shapiro embarked on his innovation journey by founding and leading a 20,000-person process and innovation practice during his 15-year tenure at Accenture. Since leaving the consulting firm, he has authored six books on the topic, including Best Practices Are Stupid, and has become a regular columnist for Inc.com. He developed Personality Poker, a powerful card game that helps create high-performing teams. Shapiro has presented his groundbreaking innovation work to audiences in 50 countries, and in 2015, he was inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame.

Main Idea

Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems by Stephen Shapiro presents a revolutionary approach to innovation through problem-solving. The book emphasizes that true innovation is not about novel ideas but about defining and solving significant problems. By asking better questions, reframing issues, and using specific lenses to change perspectives, anyone can drive innovation and achieve better results.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Better Questions Lead to Better Answers
3. What’s the Impact of Poor Questions?
4. Why Do We Ask Terrible Questions?
5. Lenses for Reframing Solutions
6. Reduce Abstraction
7. Increase Abstraction
8. Change Perspective
9. Switch Elements
10. Zero-In
11. Challenge-Centered Innovation
12. Leveraging Challenges for Innovation
13. FAST Innovation Process
14. Creating a High-Performing Innovation Culture

Introduction

Do you want a thriving business that can grow faster than the competition? Do you want to stay relevant in the minds of your customers? Do you want a more powerful life? If so, you need to master problem-solving. The way we formulate questions and frame issues can inadvertently put blinders on us, obscuring our view of the best solutions. The least understood step of innovation and problem-solving is problem definition.

Better Questions Lead to Better Answers

A small U.S. airport surveyed its passengers and discovered that their biggest complaint was wait times at baggage claim. They initially attempted to speed up the baggage process but found that passengers' complaints persisted. Instead of asking, "How can we reduce the wait time?" they changed the question to "How can we improve the wait experience?" By slowing down the passengers' journey to the baggage claim area, the problem was effectively resolved as their luggage was waiting for them upon arrival.

“Questions are powerful. And the words we choose for them are critical because changing just one word can completely change your answers.” — Stephen Shapiro

What’s the Impact of Poor Questions?

One word in a question can have a huge impact on the thought process and, therefore, on the range of solutions. For example, when NASA addressed the challenge of dirty clothes in space, the question "How can we get clothes clean?" yielded solutions around cleaning fluids. However, changing the question to "How can we keep clothes clean?" led to innovative responses involving clothing with built-in antimicrobials.