Problem Finding as a Business Analytics Major

Pink discusses clarity in the chapter of his book that we read most recently, in which he defines clarity as “the capacity to help others see their situations in fresh and more revealing ways, and to identify problems they didn’t realize they had.” This element sales (the last letter of the new ABC) is necessary to understand because it is easy to become the nosy salesperson without it. Years ago, the stereotype of the pushy, annoying, talkative, salesperson was very accurate. However, today that forceful strategy does not work anymore. When salespeople do not care about clarity and understanding the prospective client’s problem, they tend to push a solution that does not actually help. On the other hand, when a salesperson begins to discover the real problem and then solve it, he succeeds.

This fact displays the changing world of sales because where problem-solving was the most valuable thing before, now problem-finding is more important. The internet has made information disparity all but disappear, so the creative problem-finding process of sales is more important. As a business analysis major, I hope to use data and statistical techniques to help identify problems within a company and then solve them. Similar tests can be run on the solution to see if the process has really improved. If I tried to help my company by choosing some random issue to analyze, I would be wasting everyone’s time. However, if I was able to uncover a deeper issue by looking at the data from many angles, then my solution is more likely A) to be accepted and B) to succeed.

Despite the importance of problem-finding, it is still important to discern whether or not every minute problem is worth bringing up to a supervisor. Excessive nitpicky behavior can be obnoxious and actually lead to lower productivity if the team no longer functions as a unit. I believe an approach focused on teamwork and finding the biggest problems and then solving them is the best.