What is A.C.T. in terms of solving problems?

Problem solving skills are a pretty big deal in professional life and personal life. See, even though we don’t like to discuss failure very openly, failure happens. When failure happens in a work context, that’s a problem (usually). As a result, you need problem solving skills — but you need real, tangible ones, as opposed to the type of bullshit you discuss in a job interview. You can even make a case that instead of focusing on problem solving skills, you should try and become a “problem-anticipator,” which at most jobs would probably lead to a lot of “Atta Boy!” and 10 years at the same pay band. I digress.

What’s an effective way for us to think about problem solving skills? I got an idea. Let’s use an acronym!

Problem solving skills: A.C.T.

I jacked this from a Harvard Business Review article entitled “Lessons From Companies That Put Purpose Ahead Of Short-Term Profits.” When I initially clicked on the link, I was keeled over laughing — companies are notoriously bad at providing any type of purpose back to employees (and in reality they don’t need to be good at it), and almost no executive in history would prioritize purpose over short-term fiscal gain. (Although ironically the ones that do probably make more money long-term.)