Smart Thinking for Crazy Times: the Art of Solving the Right Problems

Managers, organizations, and even whole societies repeatedly get trapped into solving the wrong problems precisely. Ian Mitroff demonstrates that the majority of serious management errors can be traced to one fundamental flaw: misdirected thinking, or the time, talent, and resource drains that result from solving the wrong problems. Mitroff explores the process of using critical thinking to ask the right questions and solve the right problems in any company or situation. He shows how to pick the right stakeholders, expand your options, phrase problems correctly, expand the boundaries of problems, and manage the paradoxes inherent in problems. In short, this book offers a guide to the art of asking the right questions and solving the right problems.