Option Solving Blog

Let’s fantasize as we might, during this season of goodwill, that we bring all political parties together to provide a panel for making a recommendation on America’s near-term future using option solving. We ensure the all-party panelists are briefed on option solving: its seven key steps, methodology and tremendous decision advantages.

With that completed, we now get them focused on producing the right question to prod their collective intuition to create a range of options for choosing the optimum way forward. Their question and related considerations flowed as follows: “What is America’s best option going forward in 2014, considering there’s tremendous political polarization occuring, its economy is slowly turning around, there is tremendous uncertainty over its new health system, and there are many dangerous hot spots festering around the world?” The panel produced several other important considerations, although it felt these were approximately 50% of the total, but were the most important ones.

Once their question was ready, they were invited to develop two Yin and Yang “bookends” for producing a framework with their least likely options: along with the key reasons for setting them aside. They still acted as an important prompt in producing more likely options. In our Latest Example, you will see these came out as: “Just keep trundling along with deficit spending,” at one end, with, “Invade key trouble spots and bring them under control” at the other. Their extreme views will help our all-party panel come up with more creative and hopefully objective options.

Although option solvers will usually produce at least five possibilities for stretch-ing the limits of their thinking, this panel came-up with six. In two of the six, option C turned out to be: “Produce 3-4 joint-party, compelling, national visions + National debate + Referendum,” and option F was “Revamp education system at all levels and then create public/private exchanges to access capital for creativity push.”

Now that an Option Solving pictorium was in place, we gave our celebrity panel a late lunch break, as a form of emotional distancing, to talk about other things and let their intuitive minds subconsciously mull over their options. When they returned, they were immediately shown the pictorium again and required to put it to a vote after a quick intuitive review. Once the vote was in, they were given the option of either going straight to an action initiative, while the whole issue was still hot in their minds, or to pursue “Peeling the Onion” with their choice. They chose the latter to help unearth better option insights, which will be shared in two weeks time. If any readers have their own choices, please share them under the blog comments section.

If you have an issue example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Peeling the Onion with America’s future.” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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Young people solving their career issues, again: using Option Solving ?

A young person in my circle, who has already made an unsatisfactory start in their career world, is now taking a fresh track to their career. That person decided to relocate and position self to pursue a graduate degree in a specialized financial field aiming for a fresh career option. Unfortunately, despite that person’s intention to pay-their-way, the local job prospects were far more difficult than originally thought. Even though that person had already started and invested in some intense preparatory studies, he/she had to reconsider their position relative to economics. This dilemma became a great topic for option solving.

He/She needed an initial grounding in option solving and was then ready to move ahead. So their first step was to use their rational talents to create a probing question for their innate intuitive capabilities to make an optimal judgment, based upon a range of options. Their question and related consider-ations came out as: “What is my best career option following my move close to university for graduate education, considering my intention to pay-my-way, good local jobs seem to be scarce, my credentials are rather specialized, I prefer the local weather and personal independence, recruitment is done in a ‘hands-off,’ virtual way, and am heading for a career in finance?” They came up with several other considerations, although felt the ones embedded in this question were the 50% most important ones. They represented both sides of the dilemma’s coin.

Now that their question was in place, they were prompted to develop two Yin and Yang “bookends” to create a framework with their most unlikely options. In our Latest Example, you will see these came out as: “Just wait for the right position to find me,” at one end, with, “Take whatever job comes along, regardless of salary level or job type” at the other. The reasons for these being unlikely are given in our example picture.

This person then focused on coming up with the most plausible options. Although they were encouraged to come up with at least five, to stretch their creative thinking, he/she came up with six. The second of six turned out to be: “Keep working on grad prep courses, get accepted to grad school and take on government loans, if necessary” …option B.

Comfortable with these six realistic options, they were now in a position to pursue some emotional distancing time by sleeping on these possibilities. However, they should not put themselves into a position to second-guess themselves. This means take one night to sleep on it, then take a quick look at their option solving picture – soon after waking the following day – and then take their decision and stand by it unless things dramatically change. Then they should proceed to make an action plan, while the issues are still fresh in their mind.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “A Mystery Topic ” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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A company senior team was about to take an important strategic decision: should we go ahead with investing in a current planned, new business location? They had already invested a lot of time and other resources in pursuing one prime option, but now were having second thoughts due to a number of considerations. They were invited to use the option solving technique to arrive at an optimum conclusion or decision because it utilizes the “whole mind” decision making capabilities, rather than our traditional rational, analytical approach. Our rational minds do not have the same range of capability as our intuitive powers.

Their initial task was to use their rational minds to formulate an appropriate question to stimulate their extraordinary intuitive powers for coming up with the best overall judgment of their options. This question and associated consider-ations became: “What is our best option for pursuing this prime business location opportunity, considering it could potentially bankrupt the company, the union labor costs, handling the investors, it’s in the heart of things, needs clear success criteria, and we have no special landlord connection?” They came up with six additional considerations, although felt the ones in this question were the most important. Note their use of both positive and less favorable considerations.

With this question in place, they were encouraged to develop two Yin and Yang “bookends” as framing limits by being the most unlikely options. In our Latest Example, you will see they turned out to be: “Close 1 city business to invest in new site,” at one end, with, “Set our sights on $50M revenues and invest accordingly” at the other. The reasons why these were least likely are given in our picture example.

They then put their efforts into producing more plausible but still creative options. The fact that they produced seven alternatives really encouraged them to search for every valid option. One of the seven turned out to be: “Invest in making it a special destination” …option E.

Happy with their range of options, they now took some emotional distancing time, by talking about other executive issues, while their option picture was hidden from view to allow her intuition to reflect on their possibilities. After about twenty minutes, they came back to their option picture, took a snap-shot view, and made their best intuitive choice. While their choice was fresh in their minds, they formulated an action plan.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Young people solving their career issues, again?” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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It was decided with our elderly Aunt that she should downsize her current home and use the opportunity to distance herself from her abusive housekeeper. The question was to do it in a way that would cause the smallest waves and not precipitate some backlash from that housekeeper. Our approach would be aided by a peeling the onion activity to flush out her best alternatives. In view of her age and the stress of thinking, I decided to take on the exercise and then discuss the outcome with her.

I set about creating a “peeling the onion” question which would start the decision-thinking process. My question and associated considerations came out as: “What it our best ‘peel the onion’ option for moving an elderly relative to a smaller place and ending the relationship with an abusive housekeeper, considering the obvious wisdom of downsizing, the unpredictable reaction of the housekeeper, removing a threat, and putting our relative in a safer situation?” Again, these were the most important considerations. Fortunately our elderly aunt had already started talking about the idea of downsizing, since her house is unwieldy and requires a lot of upkeep.

From there I created two Yin and Yang “bookends” representing the most unlikely options. You will find these in our Latest Example and they came out as follows: “Not take action,” at one end, with, “Offer to take the housekeeper into the downsized home” at the other. It is pretty clear why these don’t cut it, along with the reasons given in our picture example.

Now I set about coming up with reasonable options, now that my mind was primed by the right question and associated bookends. One of the five, and I aimed for at least five, turned out as: “Make a deal with the housekeeper to take care of her over next year or so” …option D.

I will now share this thinking and options with the aunt and allow her some emotional distancing time to allow her intuition to reflect on these sub-options (Peel the onion) and then call on her to make an optimal choice. We can then create an action plan.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Should we invest in a new prime restaurant location?” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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A short while ago I came face to face with a housekeeper who was screaming at our aunt, who is 87 years old. The abuse went on for at least 10 minutes before I found a way to calm her down and leave the room. I was forewarned about these abusive tantrums from the caregiver who looked after the aunt for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, but she had been sworn to secrecy by the aunt. The caregiver shared them with me and I was left to figure out how to break the silence. Fortunately or unfortunately I ran directly into the situation myself.

The aunt was very distressed after this mental abuse event and I chose to get her out of the house to consider her options. Before I did that, I created a picture of her options which I will now share with you. It looked like this : “What is our best alternative for an elderly relative in the same house with an abusive housekeeper, considering that the relative lives alone, housekeeper could become physical, housekeeper has been there for 10 years, and elderly relative has exacerbated the situation?” These were not the only considerations, but the most important ones. The 10 year residency of the housekeeper was crucial, notwithstanding it was rent free, because the housekeeper would feel she had the law on her side to remain.

I quickly created two Yin and Yang “bookends” to frame the most unlikely options. These can be found in our Latest Example and were as follows: “Just turn a blind eye to it,” at one end, with, “Throw housekeeper out as soon as possible” at the other. It was pretty clear why these would be problematic, but they helped me come up with the five most realistic options.

I then came up with the aunt’s most likely options with which I was to sit down and discuss with her in a nearby shopping mall. After some discussion, I let her sleep on them (emotional distancing) with a view to revisiting them the following day. The one she seemed to be particularly oriented toward was: “Move to a smaller place and inform housekeeper of an end to relationship” …option E.

Since this would require some thinking through, I agreed to think about the aunt’s sub-options (Peel the onion) and then talk these through with her before we would proceed any further.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Peel the onion with: Our elderly relative has an abusive housekeeper. What are her options?” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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I was recently made aware of a key executive who had been with his organization for many years, who was forced out of his position as a result of executive board members. There were no clear cut reasons because it was a political rather than performance matter. He was naturally stunned and quite disappointed that he was treated this way. I took it upon myself to figure out what his options might be, if he decided to seek reinstatement.

Once I understood his scenario I set about putting an appropriate question together. This looked like : “What it my best option to be reinstated to my former role, considering I feel I have been treated unfairly, the reasons for being pushed out don’t stack up, likelihood of reputation sullied with outsiders, and Executive Board members feel embarrassed to have me around?” There were several considerations, but these were the top 50% of those listed.

Now I set about devising two Yin and Yang “bookends” to help me frame the most applicable options once the extremes are in place. You can find these in our Latest Example and were as follows: “Let it go,” at one end, with, “Take out a legal action against the Board” at the other. It quickly becomes apparent why these are untenable options and the reasons are stated, but they were good ammunition to inspire the following five options.

One of my five options for this key executive was: “Go to past senior collea-gues to ask them to make an appeal to Executive Board members” …option D. Having shared these options with him, I left him to use some emotional distancing before coming to a decision. Whatever conclusion he comes to, shaped by the tremendous power of his intuition, he would be wise to pursue it. Once he does that, I would be happy to assist him put an action plan together while it was still fresh in his mind. That will give him the impetus to proceed.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Our elderly relative has an abusive housekeeper. What are her options?” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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Two weeks ago President Obama and his team were saddled with deciding if and when to strike against Syria, so as to punish it for using chemical weapons against innocent men, women and children. They were debating what form of action to take and, since that time a new option has emerged regarding the placing of all Syria’s chemical weapons under international supervision. Since we can assume he and his team will enjoy using Option Solving and are now familiar with the technique, we can proceed toward devising the right initial question and related considerations.

The question I put together for them, with their appropriate considerations, evolved as follows: “What is President Obama’s best option against the Syrian regime for gassing its population, considering limited support from allies, an attack could backfire in unexpected ways, he has mini-mal US support, although action could clearly signal future conseq-uences” Other considerations were available, but I helped choose the key ones for the President’s team.

Now I introduced two framing, unlikely Yin and Yang “bookends” to help stimu-late at least five creative and plausible options. I have denoted the reasons why these two framing options are unlikely possibilities in their respective boxes. The two I produced for them were: “Stand down all operations,” at one end, while at the other end you see, “Full scale invasion.” Both of these are extreme and unlikely enough that they naturally induce fresh ideas.

Go to our Latest Example and you will find the six options I thought they could consider as real possibilities. I did include the option regarding the putting of chemical weapons under international supervision, which has emerged as a focal point over the past few days. See this one as: “International sequester of all chemical weapons to postpone a strike ”…option C. It would not be my preferred option, since it has taken the ball out of US hands. You can decide which option you would choose from the other five options.

I then advised him and his team to put in some emotional distancing overnight, and they’ve thrown themselves behind Option C. They built an action plan which kicked-off with Secretary John Kerry flying of the Geneva to meet his Russian counterpart. So next time we can take a look at their “Peeling the onion” exercise to decide their best option for putting Syria’s chemical weapons under international supervision.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Peeling the onion: President Obama dealing with his Syrian dilemma?” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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Two weeks ago President Obama and his team were embroiled in the Egyptian crisis, where the army had set up an interim government and was cracking down hard on the Muslim Brotherhood. He and his team were struggling with what course to take relative to their various options. Assuming they were familiar with the option solving technique, they were able to draw upon the outcome of my own exercise.

The question I created for them, with its appropriate considerations, came out as follows: “What is President Obama’s best alternative for resolving Egypt’s latest turmoil, considering that the US wishes to remain a major influence there, doesn’t wish to antagonize Mid-East neighbors any further, wants to end up with true democracy, and wants to offset Russia and Chain’s influence within the region?” There were clearly other considerations, but the ones given are the key ones.

From there I introduced two likely Yin and Yang “bookends” to help frame their subsequent, more appropriate options. Although these bookends are options in themselves, they are too extreme to consider, hence the reasons given in their respective boxes. The two I produced for them were: “Just ignore the whole thing,” at one end, while at the other end, “Direct US intervention.” Use of these two unlikely options were available to inspire new thinking on this tricky issue and induce fresh ideas.

In our Latest Example, I dug up six options they could use. They would of course have more potential options based upon their own intelligence sources. However, one of my options turned out to be: “Set up a high powered Arab delegation to broker a deal”…option C. Take a look at my other five options that were available for President Obama and his team to use, in our Latest Example, and see if there are others you would’ve included.

I then advised him and his team to put in some emotional distancing overnight, and meet the following day to decide on their best option. They’ve made their choice since, built an action plan and then moved forward. Unfortunately the waters have become muddied with then recent chemical attack in Syria, hence this becomes the subject of our next option solving exercise in two weeks.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “President Obama dealing with his Syrian dilemma?” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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By chance, Linked-in created an opportunity to connect with a former business associate who had popped up in the Connect Column, after totally disappearing from the scene a year ago. I pursued it with tongue in cheek to see what would happen. Sure enough, a week or so later he responded to complete the connection. This also revealed his new place of work. The dilemma then was whether to re-pursue the relationship, because he had shown the ability to come up with an elegant software program solution, or remain at arm’s length. I then proceeded to contact another associate to get his input. He naturally challenged me to come up with the options open to us.

So I created the following question, with its appropriate considerations: “What is our best option of reconnecting with a former business associate and possibly his assist with an On-Line application, considering that he backed away unannounced once, his willingness to reconnect via LinkedIn, the prize of having an elegant on-line solution, and the loss of momentum from two prior attempts?” In our latest example you can see this set out. There were some other considerations, but these seemed to be the most important ones.

I immediately established two Yin and Yang “bookends” to help frame new, more plausible options. Although these are options in themselves, they are two extreme to consider, hence the reasons given in their respective boxes. The two I came up with were: “Let sleeping dogs lie,” at one end, while at the other end, “Offer him a deal he cannot refuse.” These started some fresh thinking on the issue and what options might present themselves.

Again, as you can see in our Latest Example, I eventually came up with four options, which I presented to my associate. He didn’t have any additional suggestions, although a fifth one popped up subsequently. I’ve always found you are likely to find the best solutions with at least five options. One of my options turned out to be: “Reach out directly by email within ‘How are you doing?’ context”…option A. Take a look at my other four options in our Latest Example and see which one you would’ve chosen. I’ve then been using a lot of emotional distancing, due to travel and other things, and will wait for my intuition to help me pursue the best option. Then I will create an action plan, or not

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: President Obama resolving his latest Egyptian dilemma?’” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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Last time we observed how someone’s son had to make a new personal career decision. After going through the option solving approach, he decided to peel the onion, to gain more insight on the best way to handle his career situation. Now suppose he picked Option E – Find a good reason to postpone the interview. Pursue when have everything lined-up. Now he needs to create a new question, reflecting this particular option.

This question, with its considerations, turned out to be: “What is my best way of handling postponement of the interview, considering that it might jeopardize any opportunity for a future interview, I have to find a really plausible excuse, and I will lose the opportunity to clarify many relocation issues?” There were a couple more considerations, but he decided to focus on the 50% most important ones – take as look at our latest example.

Once again, he had to come-up with two Yin and Yang “bookends” for framing other potential options and to inspire a range of more plausible ones. These can be found in our latest example as: “Just ignore the invitation,” at one end, while at the other end, “Pursue interview.” In the circumstances, he saw these as rather unlikely for reasons indicated in our latest example. They did provide a useful framework, however, to start fresh thinking on the issues.

He ultimately came up with five useful options – again, see our Latest Example. You are likely to produce the best possibilities by coming up with at least five options: more than that would be an extra bonus. One of his options turned out to be: “Inform them: ‘On reflection that I’m not sufficiently ready right now.’”…option B. Take a look at his other four options in our Latest Example and see which one you would’ve chosen. He then proceeded with emotional distancing, to give his sub-conscious, intuitive mind time to mull over his five possibilities before choosing. A great way to come up with an optimal approach.

After about half an hour, focusing on something completely different, he returned to his option solving picture and made his choice. He then proceeded to make a simple action plan while everything was still fresh in his mind. Now he was ready to move forward with an optimal decision and game plan.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Re-establishing a former key business contact?’” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter @ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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