DON’T SOLVE THE FIRST PROBLEM

Here’s a secret that will save you a lot of embarrassment and wasted energy. It will save you from getting egg all over your face: Do not answer or try to solve the first problem that a client offers you. You will be tempted. And your client might even present a truly desperate situation needing urgent solutions—now. But do not do it. Resist the temptation.

For years I frequently lived from one episode of jumping in to solve the first presented problem to the next one. I would suffer embarrassment after embarrassment when I discovered that for all of the energy I devoted to “solving” some problem, it turned out to be just a front or a cover for some other problem or a test of my competencies to see if they would share with me the real problem.