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Don't find a fault. Find a remedy.

To any business problem, there is an answer that is simple, straightforward, and wrong.

Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.

When we transcend a paradox there is often a quality of obviousness that produces a shock of recognition. No longer held captive by the old way of thinking, we are liberated to see things we have known all along, but couldn't assemble into a useful model for action.

The problem when solved will be simple.

The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

What do Benjamin Franklin, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, William Shakespeare, Osama bin Laden, and every other historical or famous person you have ever heard of have in common? Every famous or infamous person that has come to historical prominence is known for either solving or creating problems.

Remember, your friends, your family, and history itself will not remember you for the problems you avoid. It will remember you for either the problems you create or those you solve.

At Intel, we see five stages for dealing with a new problem: First, you ignore its existence; second is denial; third, you blame others for it; fourth, you assume responsibility for it; and fifth-a solution is coming.

There is no surer way of putting problems across than to present them in a form as close as possible to that in which they actually occur, and the greater vividness and realism thereby secured will stimulate the ensuing thinking and discussion.

The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. A research problem is not solved by apparatus; it is solved in a man's head. It is not what we know that is important, it is what we do not know.

The research state of mind can apply to anything; personal affairs or any kind of business, big or little. It is the problem solving mind as contrasted with the let-well-enough-alone mind. It is the composer mind instead of the fiddler mind. It is the 'tomorrow' mind instead of the 'yesterday' mind.

A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

Much of the information needed to diagnose the cause of a problem invariably comes from the people associated with the problem. To get the needed information requires asking the right questions of the right people and then having the discipline to be quiet and listen closely. Determining the right questions to ask too often gets short shrift, with predictable consequences for results.

Theory of Embedded Wrongs: If a problem has been around a long, long while, and there's a dominant prevailing notion as to what will cure it, the answer is almost inevitably wrong.

The way we've taught managers to make decisions and consultants to analyze problems condemns them to taking action when it's too late. The only way you can look into the future is with theory. And that's a big leap for managers to take.

The key to good theory is good categorization--understanding the circumstances you're in, and the circumstances you're not in.

Everybody knows that you need more prevention than treatment, but few reward acts of prevention. We glorify those who left their names in history books at the expense of those contributors about whom our books are silent. We humans are not just a superficial race (this may be curable to some extent); we are a very unfair one.

Most organizations staff their problems and starve their opportunities. When people begin to start talking about problems, I say, 'No, wait a minute. Let's first look at the opportunities.'

When a company faces an adaptive challenge, the locus of responsibility for problem solving must shift to its people. Innovative and well-adapted solutions reside in the collective intelligence of employees at all levels, who need to use one another as resources, often across boundaries, and learn their way towards solutions.

Reason can answer questions, but imagination has to ask them.

It’s not that I am so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

In Toyota’s view, you don’t have a problem without a standard. Someone might tell his or her boss, “We’re not meeting our delivery date” or “Our meetings are not happening on time.” And the boss would say, “What is the standard? What would be acceptable lateness?” or “Why is lateness a problem? What is the result of lateness?” As long as the standards are clear, the organization can focus on continuous improvement and ultimately raise those standards. A company that wants to learn from Toyota has to learn an equally robust type of problem solving. It’s hard to imagine a company thriving that doesn’t have a good problem-solving process.

Problem ­solving invites reason, compromise, and, ultimately, mutual respect; ­identity ­building invites posturing, passion, and, ultimately, intolerance.

The fundamental nature of problem solving is to drive something (the problem) out of existence. The fundamental nature of creating is to bring something that is desired into existence.

Einstein said that if he had an hour to save the world, he’d spend fifty-nine minutes defining the problem and one minute finding the solution. The reality is that people spend sixty minutes running around finding solutions to problems that don’t matter or that were never defined properly.