With the exception of rare individuals, and characters such as Sherlock Holmes, we are all apt to often miss what is right in front of us. In the car, drivers sometimes brake suddenly for hazards they should’ve noticed much earlier, and can be very dangerous. It can get even worse for businesses.

In business not seeing flaws in current and future plans, processes, and infrastructure is as just dangerous as being complacent while driving.

Clients often mentally smack them themselves and think “Duh, why didn’t I think of that?” when a Consultant or Strategist provides their analysis and recommendations. We all think we’re immune to such folly. Try answering the next two questions without looking them up to see if you can figure them out.

Questions:

There are six eggs in the basket. Six people each take one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?

A cowboy rode into town on Friday, spent one night there, and left on Friday. How do you account for this?

Ready to see the answers?

 

The Answers

There are six eggs in the basket. Six people each take one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in the basket? The last person took the basket with the egg still inside.

A cowboy rode into town on Friday, spent one night there, and left on Friday. How do you account for this? His horse was named Friday.

Once you see the answers, you realize that no matter how long it took to get the answers, or if you didn’t get the answers out at all, the correct answers should have been self evident.

While a simple example, I believe that these lateral thinking questions exemplify the value that outside strategists can bring to your company. Outsiders lack any personal or vested stake or interest in the outcome, other than optimizing the areas of the business we are hired to analyze.

This impartiality to everything but profit and efficiency allows us to see clearly where improvements can be made and assures clients receive accurate and truthful analysis and innovative actionable solutions.

Often times, a trained outsider can come into a company and by engaging its staff and researching the various processes used to conduct operations, determine a workable integrated solution that will increase the profitability or efficiency of a particular area of the business, or a complete solution covering the business as a whole.

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