Every day, if you're confronted by obstacles, problems or challenges—consider yourself blessed. Because they give you opportunities to creatively seek solutions. Ponder possibilities. Ask questions. Foster experimentation.

And if there's one person, who can be a valuable guide on this innovative, problem-solving journey, it's my friend Stephen Shapiro. For decades, his transformative thinking and counsel, have been helping companies thrive.

Stephen has combined his engineering degree from Cornell, fifteen years at Accenture and entrepreneurial experience as a fellow Hall of Fame speaker and bestselling author—to enable others to optimize innovation results and ROI.

Jeff Blackman: In your sixth book, Invisible Solutions, you feature a quote by Mark Twain, "There is no such thing as a new idea." What's your perspective on Twain's claim?

Stephen Shapiro: In the innovation community, this is a heated debate. Some claim there are new ideas. From my perspective, nearly every new idea was built on a previous idea or is a combination of multiple existing ideas.

Penicillin, a 20^th century discovery, has roots going back 5,000 years to Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, India, and China—when fungi and other plants were used to treat diseases. We can go back further to the Paleolithic, 60,000 years ago—when, according to archeologists, plants were used as medicine. Innovators, instead of worrying about novelty, should focus on value. The problem, the innovation solves.

JB: How does an individual or company, make the creative process more efficient, valuable and profitable?

SS: It's important to distinguish innovation from creativity. Creativity is the spark or inspiration that generates an idea. Innovation is about finding an important problem and solving it. For greater efficiency, it needs to be a process—that doesn't start with an idea, but a well-framed, important problem or opportunity. This focuses energies on what matters most. Compare this to suggestion-boxes where hundreds of ideas are submitted, yet few are of value.

JB: We're both ardent believers in the importance of questions. Yet, why are they so important to innovation or breakthroughs?

SS: Changing one word in a problem-statement can significantly impact the range of solutions. Customers, revenue, sales, and profits are similar words, but each will yield different solutions, if you solve for it. For example, let's examine the woes of airport baggage-claim. One opportunity, is to REDUCE wait time. That's ideal. But when you can't reduce it, maybe you IMPROVE the wait time. A one-word change creates different solutions. Here, it may even lead to new places for solutions. Who are the "wait" experience experts? Theme parks, like Disney World and Universal Studios.

JB: How do you assure, the right questions are asked?

SS: There aren't right or wrong questions. All questions lead to results and solutions—they're just different. What matters, is getting people inside an organization to understand and value the impact of questions. The leader's role isn't to have the answers. It's to ask better questions, that get the entire organization to ask better questions. This taps into the team's collective wisdom. When everyone challenges assumptions and the status quo, you have better chances of being relevant.

JB: You say, the least understood step of problem-solving and innovation is "problem-definition"—meaning…?

SS: We're wired to find solutions. But having all the answers, isn't the answer. A key principle in design-thinking and innovation is, "Don't fall in love with the solution; fall in love with the problem." But this isn't natural. We assume the problem to solve, is the one in front of us. Yet that's often not the case. A fortune cookie I once received, said it well, "You always have the right answers. They just sometimes answer the wrong questions."

JB: Why is, "Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions."—terrible advice?

SS: Leaders don't need more ideas, solutions or low-value suggestions. They need better, meatier, well-framed challenges. By finding better questions/problems/opportunities—an organization can make a more substantial impact to the bottom-line. Einstein reputedly said, "If I had an hour to save the world, I'd spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute finding solutions." Most organizations spend 60 minutes solving unimportant problems, or they're not framed in a way that'll reveal hidden solutions.

JB: What impact will Artificial Intelligence have, on our ability to solve problems or create unique solutions?

SS: The World Economic Forum in their past five-year forecasts, stated "complex problem solving" is the most important soft skill for individuals and organizations to develop. According to their research, AI can do a lot, but it's (currently) limited in its ability to make certain connections. The report notes, "It's true AI can solve problems humans can't—but it also goes the other way. When problem-solving needs to span multiple industries or when problems aren't fully defined, humans can work backwards to figure out a solution." This is a great perspective. AI is a very powerful tool. But you need to focus it on the right problem. I'd argue complex problem-formulation is even more important. We don't yet have technology that can do that.

JB: You claim, "People don't want creativity!"

SS: People SAY they want creativity or innovation, but at a deep level, they don't. A recent Cornell University study showed, although leaders verbally said they wanted change, when they tested their true subconscious beliefs, researchers found they didn't really want it. Change and creativity were highly correlated with agony and pain. Why? Researchers found novelty is often viewed as being antithetical to practicality. Practicality equals value. Newness, carries subconscious implications of uncertainty, which endangers survival. This creates tension. So one chooses the safe solution, over riskier, more creative ones.

JB: In Invisible Solutions you identify 25 lenses for reframing problems. For simplicity, what's a lens?

SS: It's a different way of looking at a problem. Just like when you go to an optometrist and they use different lenses to help you see more clearly. The book's 25 lenses do the same. They help you reveal hidden solutions, maybe in front of your nose, but you can't see them. Lenses challenge your assumptions.

JB: You urge folks, to not think outside the box, instead—find a better box…

SS: It's the Goldilocks Principle. Sometimes we ask questions that are too soft, (broad/abstract). And sometimes we ask them in a way that's too hard, (narrow/specific). We want to ask questions—just right. Thinking outside the box implies broad questions yield better solutions. That's rare. You might get more solutions, but they'll be of lower value. To find a better box, reframe the problem to the right level of abstraction—so you can find better solutions.

JB: Please define your FAST innovation process, and what makes it so powerful...

SS: There are four steps that drive the FAST Innovation process: FOCUS. ASK. SHIFT. TEST. It's powerful, because you get a tenfold improvement on innovation ROI.

FOCUS means "innovate where you differentiate." Invest in the areas of your business that have the greatest impact.

ASK means ask better questions. It's the problem-formulation step.

SHIFT is the solution-finding step. Expertise is the enemy of innovation. Therefore, to find breakthroughs, shift your mindset. Plus look outside your industry or area of expertise for solutions.

TEST is built on the belief—you don't want to fail, but instead experiment. When done correctly, experimentation massively reduces your risk of failure.

JB: How does any size company identify their "true" differentiators?

SS: There are five Ds of differentiation:

1) Your differentiator must be distinctive—something that separates you from the crowd.

2) It must be durable—it'll stand the test of time, it's hard to replicate.

3) It should be disruption-proof. It doesn't need to be disruptive, in that it completely changes the rules of the game, but you need to make sure you won't become irrelevant by someone who is disruptive.

4) It must be desirable—people are willing to pay for it. The cleverest idea that doesn't create value for others, won't create value for you.

5) It must be disseminated—shared internally and externally. If your differentiator is a secret, it won't make a difference.

To help you continually make a difference, please take a peek at: https://stephenshapiro.com/

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