In the last post, we talked about how to reframe a problem in a way that can lead to a truly breakthrough solution.

Reframing starts with asking, “Is problem X the right problem to focus on?” You can then ask yourself other types of questions that help you zoom in and out—focusing on both the high-level goal AND the details of the problem.

Over the next few posts, I’d like to explore some real-world reframing examples to help you better understand the process, as well as its potential impact on your own business.

Today’s example is from Ozan Varol’s article, “Want to be a better problem solver? Do this first.”

In developing countries, hypothermia can put hundreds of thousands of premature babies at great risk every year.

A typical approach to this problem is to try to provide more incubators to hospitals. But the challenge is that incubators are expensive, and many of these premature babies aren’t born in a medical facility.

It turned out that incubators in hospitals were sitting unused, so sending more of them wasn’t going to make much of a difference. The REAL problem was the lack of infant warmers in rural areas that had no access to hospitals, or even electricity.

“In reframing the problem, the founders of Embrace Infant Warmer produced a brilliant innovation that has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of premature babies. The infant warmer, which looks like a sleeping bag, is small, light, and can be re-used. It keeps the premature infant at the right temperature for up to four hours—all without electricity. It only takes a few minutes to ‘recharge’ the warmer by putting it in boiling water.”

And here’s something else that I find truly amazing…

The cost for a traditional incubator? Around $20,000. The cost for the Embrace Infant Warmer? Just $25!

Think about the life-altering impact of that one solution. An incubator that not only works without electricity, but at about 1/800th the cost.

The beauty of this example is that it demonstrates two things:

• First, how easy it is to stay locked in status quo thinking, yet how obvious a much better solution can seem in hindsight.
• Second, the incredible positive impact that’s possible when we explore a problem more deeply and ask better questions about its true cause.

What will you do today to apply this story to your own business challenges?

Will you imagine the types of questions the team at Embrace Infant Warmer might have asked themselves, and how you can use a similar problem-solving approach?