<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/c320826c-906b-486c-95be-e8a613c2c8c7/EB312375-3DDF-48DF-B771-A22387C10689/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/" href="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/" style="font-size: 11px;">content1.clipmarks.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><DIV><IMG height="255" alt="Einstein's Secret to Jaw-Dropping Problem Solving" hspace="0" src="http://content1.clipmarks.com/image_cache/mugofcoffee/512/6F45BD5E-2A93-467E-9FEB-29EA084F429D.jpg" width="300" vspace="0" name="Clipmarks_ScaleImage" galleryimg="no" original-width="300" original-height="255" /></IMG><//IMG></DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H2>The Problem Is To Know What the Problem Is</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H2>Problem Definition Tools and Strategies</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H3>1. Rephrase the Problem</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><P>When a Toyota executive asked employees to brainstorm “ways to increase their productivity”, all he got back were blank stares. When he rephrased his request as “ways to make their jobs easier”, he could barely keep up with the amount of suggestions. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H3>2. Expose and Challenge Assumptions</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><P>Every problem — no matter how apparently simple it may be — comes with a long list of assumptions attached. Many of these assumptions may be inaccurate and could make your problem statement inadequate or even misguided.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H3>5. Find Multiple Perspectives</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H3>6. Use Effective Language Constructs</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H3>7. Make It Engaging</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H3>8. Reverse the Problem</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H3>9. Gather Facts</H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://content1.clipmarks.com/content/180DCD4F-0C80-49C2-9F17-0D81AE57D84F/"><H3>10. Problem-Solve Your Problem Statement</H3></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/EB312375-3DDF-48DF-B771-A22387C10689/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

New from the makers of Clipmarks:  Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!