Are you solving the wrong problem?

If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. Abraham  Maslow 1908 – 1970 When we’re faced with a problem, the first thing we need to do is get totally clear about the issue we’re trying to solve. But at times, this task isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Consider the interesting example of the mathematician Abraham Wald and the British Air Ministry. During World War II, the British Air Ministry engaged Mr. Wald to study the damage suffered by airplanes engaged in combat missions and use those results to recommend appropriate places for …
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Honky-tonk beauty

Open your eyes: see things for what they really are, thereby sparing yourself the pain of false attachments and avoidable devastation. Epictetus 55 – 135 A.D. I’m not a big fan of country and western music, particularly the hard core country. Even though I find it painful to listen to, I do find some real lessons in some of the lyrics. There’s one song where the story goes something like this: the wife suspects her husband isn’t totally faithful and goes into a dimly lit honky-tonk to find him sitting at the bar with a real winner. In order to …
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