Solve someone else's problem

Insight in my life often comes when I see the connection between two seemingly unrelated things. This weekend I've been listening to a The Chase Jarvis Show, a podcast about creative entrepreneurs and I've been grading an assignment for my finance class. 

I think it was Jarvis's interview with one of the co-founders of AirBnB in which the guest said entrepreneurship is about solving someone else's problem. Think about that - it's not about getting rich, it's not about being famous, it's not about being powerful - it's about finding a solution to a problem for someone else. I think most of my anti-business friends and colleagues have this perception that business people are only in it for themselves and all they care about is money, power, and maybe fame. Indeed, they do care about those things, but tell me about a politician who also isn't driven by those same desires. But an entrepreneur has to convince someone that the thing s/he has created is worth the customer spending her/his money on. That requires convincing the customer that the product is worth giving up some of their hard earned cash. 

The assignment I gave my students was to do some analysis on some financial statements, and then provide me, in briefing format (I.e., PowerPoint) an answer as if I were the CFO. For example, one of the questions was "tell me the three most important changes in this financial statement over the last year". Some of the answers were literally a list of three things with no further discussion. Just three bullets. Now some of the students got it and provided an explanation for each item that they selected. The latter is an example of solving someone else's problem. Give me a list and you haven't really added any value. Maybe you've even created more work for me because now I may not agree with you, but I don't know why you chose the three things you chose. 

We all bring different skills and abilities to the table. Some of us are very good at planning and organizing (not me), some are good at analysis, and some are good at selling ideas. Whatever it is you bring to the table, you have to figure out how you can use that set of skills to solve someone else's problem if you want to be successful- whether that is as an entrepreneur or as a junior analyst in a hospital. 

The key to success in business is being sensitive to other people's needs, and then helping solve their problems. That's what I'm going to try to explain to my students on Monday when I talk to them about their assignments. And, honestly, it's something I need to remind myself of from time to time.