We have a habit of searching for specialists whenever we meet a problem we can’t solve on our own. What’s the first thing you need to do in order call in a specialist? You need to know —what— specialist to call. Knowing what specialist to call is preceded by defining a problem. What the problem is seems straight forward for a leaking pipe — where you can directly observe the difference between undesired state and desired one — not so much for more complex ones.
If you ask a random CEO what advisors are necessary for conducting her operations — she would name lawyers and accountants. Plumbers, lawyers and accountants are all boxers, because they’re great at punching while standing up and that’s it. What do you do as a boxer if you’re on the ground? You stand up. If you ask a boxer what she will do after being thrown on to the ground, the answer is ‘It will not happen, because such things aren’t allowed in a boxing match’. What do you do when a problem pops outside of the box? Or should I better ask ‘what do you do if you can’t name a problem?’ You have nowhere to go, because there is no google search result without naming your problem.
What if you take the easiest path like most of us do — take your nameless problem to boxers, for them to punch the solution out of the situation. Nothing will change, but why? Because beyond leaking-pipes type of problems you need a groundwork, before you’re ready to punch. You need to make sense of a situation before shooting straight up with predefined solutions to problems others have encountered before. You need to roll on the floor to feel the angles of your movement and the feedback from the ground. This is what best MMA fighters do. Where a fight for a boxer ends, the ocean of opportunities for mixed-martial artists begins.
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