alexander

10 THE WISDOM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
water. He reconceived an island as land, and built a mole to
reach it. However, note that the alternative, reframed problem
itself can be quite formidable.
Now stop and think about your most significant problem.
Are you building a fleet to conquer Tyre (which is
costly and time-consuming), or can you conceive of a
causeway to reach it? What is your causeway? To recognize
it, you need to know your strengths and use them, to know
your weaknesses and avoid them, and to find your enemy’s
weaknesses and attack them.
U.S. Steel provides us with a modern example of problem
reframing. The company had an environmental problem
at one of its mills, where the residue of its coking
operations (a high-pollution, necessary step in making
steel) needed to be contained so as not to pollute the
groundwater. The remediation was projected to be enormously
expensive, and it could still fail. Many minds spent
many months working to solve the containment problem.
Then someone reframed the problem. By knowing the
‘‘strengths and weaknesses’’ of the situation, this problem
reframer recognized that there was a small residual energy
content in the waste. By mixing it in small amounts with
the fuel for the furnaces, the company was able to eliminate
the potential environmental problem by recasting it from
containment to fuel. Fuel and remediation costs decreased,
and the Environmental Protection Agency was happy.
When you encounter a problem, think of how it may be
restructured into an opportunity to use your strengths or
avoid your weaknesses. Doing this provides a greater opportunity
for success, while allowing you to maximize (instead
of waste) your resources.