Useful Solutions: Problem Solver Profiles

I had a chance to talk with Cheryl Einhorn ’91 last week, whose third book Problem Solver: Maximizing Your Strengths to Make Better Decisions was published by Cornell University Press this year.

Cheryl had a venerable career as an investigative business journalist, focusing mainly on the “bearish” company story. The sometimes-intense ramifications of her reporting (one subject ultimately spent a decade in jail), drove Cheryl to examine her own accountability in choosing sources and information. “We’re flawed thinkers,” she said, “so you need to heighten your awareness.” This involves, logically, understanding one’s own cognitive biases and thinking patterns. “If the windshield is dirty, you’re not going to see anything clearly.”

These considerations inspired her to develop a system for understanding approaches to problem solving and decision making. A quiz helps participants to determine their Problem Solver Profiles (PSPs), which include strengths and biases, and then to explore those qualities. Cheryl works with teams to use the system as a “trust accelerator,” exploring potential settings and scenarios for these skillsets. (I was particularly taken with the situationality chapter, on how the environment matters when one type of decision maker is working with another type.)

Cheryl advises people to understand all decision-making styles, in order to make the most of different vantage points, crucial in times of crisis. She suggested playful experimentation, too. “Go to the grocery store like an Adventurer,” she suggested. “As you bump up against what’s uncomfortable, that’s where growth is.”

“We don’t know what to do with people who think differently,” Cheryl noted, adding that one main purpose of her method is to encourage us to “see difference as something exciting and energizing that we can learn from.” This so aptly meets the challenge that President Pollack has put before us with the Freedom of Expression theme this year, and I’m finding it a helpful contribution to my own thought process.

The students asked insightful questions, the plum of which rang loud and clear: Can people change? She thinks so, and so do I. (I expected to be a Thinker, but now, perhaps after taking on my leadership responsibilities as dean, it seems I have become more of a Listener.)

The pivot is actually a skill Cheryl highlights most innovatively, using the cheetah as a central metaphor in her framework. “We know the cheetah as the fastest land animal, but I admire its opposite exceptional skill: the cheetah slows down quickly when a necessary pause is called for. Strategic stops provide flexibility and maneuverability in the hunt. This is the pause that allows for strong decision making.”

Forward Faster at Climate Week NYC

I am not sure which of the PSPs would be ideally matched for taking on the effects of climate-change, arguably the greatest problem humans are facing. But I can tell you that many such personalities were on display at the UN Global Compact Leaders Conference two weeks back during NYC Climate Week. I was there representing the board members of the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and, of course, the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

The Honorable Sanda Ojiambo, able leader of the Global Compact, was laser-focused on the overarching theme of acceleration – “Forward Faster” was the rallying cry – now that we are halfway to 2030 since the Paris Accords launched in 2015.

All gathered were impressed by the opening keynote addresses from the actor Matt Damon and Gary White, who together represented Water.org and WaterEquity, two organizations dedicated to empowering people in the developing world to gain access to safe water and sanitation. There was a useful panel titled Corporate Finance for the Agenda 2030, led by PIMCO’s Christian Stracke and featuring several CFOs across industries, like Safaricom, Danone, Enel. No new insights, but for the reckoning that well-articulated sustainability strategies are not enough; progress is reliant upon credible, concrete investments. The panel Towards Nature-Positive Business had many new insights on how companies around the world need to align their strategies with the Global Biodiversity Framework coming out of Kunming/Montreal last December. Richard Mattison of S&P Global was very articulate about how well they track nature-positive footprints of firms; GSK’s Claire Lund spoke about water stress management by big pharma; I thought the panelists addressed the challenges with concrete examples. By far, the most impressive session for me featured the Youth SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) Accelerators, who were selected young professionals representing about 15 countries around the world pitching start-ups with a unique sustainability and social impact focus. Ably moderated by Maanda Rashaka of the Vodacom Group in South Africa, the room was jampacked and the enthusiasm of the pitch teams captivated us all.

Spurring on Green Tech Innovation at Cornell

This last session on SDG Accelerators reminded me about how we at Cornell are doing what we can, every day, every year, to bring our business education to the best purpose in the world. You have read in previous blog posts about many of those programs that drive us forward. One exciting new offering is Green Tech Innovation Fellows, presented through Entrepreneurship@Cornell and led by Professor of Practice Greg Ray. It explores the theme of entrepreneurship, especially social entrepreneurship, as a noble pursuit for responsible leaders. The Green Technology Innovation Fellowship brings PhD candidates, post-docs, and MBA students together in the workshop course NBA 5185. Students from all over the university participate and develop the skills and processes for building green tech start-ups. I cannot wait to see what these students launch by the end of the year.

A Few Closing Thoughts

The book that stopped me in my tracks for self-reflection was Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer (Jossey-Bass, 2000). The book was recommended to me by a friend who knew about the impending renewal of my deanship and who believed I would benefit from the author’s wisdom. Palmer was a former college dean, is now a senior associate of the American Association for Higher Education, and has been recognized as one of the most influential academic leaders by The Leadership Project. The book is comprised of five essays of reflections on his career. There is a wonderful section in Chapter 3 called “Learning Our Limits,” in which he relates the story of a university presidency for which he was being considered, but ultimately passed on without any regrets. My favorite quote: “Vocation does not come from willfulness, no matter how noble one’s intentions. It comes from listening to and accepting ‘true self’ with its limits as well as its potential.” I think I understand what my friend was intending for me with this recommendation.

Finally, do stay tuned for more about the SC Johnson College’s contributions to the university-wide Freedom of Expression theme year launched by President Martha Pollack. We have our own college spin related to “The Marketplace of Ideas: The Value of Free Exchange.” Soon we’ll be announcing our series of demonstration events and sponsored lectures on the importance of civil discourse to the well-functioning of organizations and markets.

And I couldn’t leave without mentioning:

Some of our exciting new faculty passed along some recent book recommendations. I thought I’d share them here. I have read some of them, but I see lots I need to add to my own list.

• The Most Human Human by Brian Christian. (Recommended by Heather Schofield, Applied Economics & Policy/Johnson, behavioral scholar of RCTs for managerial decisions in developing countries.)
• Atomic Habits by James Clear. (Recommended by Wyatt Lee, Management & Organizations/Nolan School, studies the effects of ratings and rankings on individual and organizational outcomes.)
• The Cult of We, by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. (Recommended by Minmo Gahng, Finance/Dyson School, who focuses on entrepreneurship.)
• Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why asset managers own the world by Brett Christophers. (Recommender: Chris DeMestre, new faculty in the Rubacha Real Estate Department.)
• Harvard Square, by Catherine Turco. (Recommended by Jason Greenberg, Management & Organizations/Nolan School, who focuses on entrepreneurship, tech networks, social systems.)
• Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. (Recommended by Yichun Hu, Operations Technology Information and Management (OTIM), who studies applications in healthcare and online platforms.)
• Babel, by RF Kuang. (Recommended by Arielle Anderer, OTIM/Johnson School, who works on improving healthcare operations through trial designs.)