Editor's Focus: Feb. 1998

Here’s a riddle for you: A woman had two sons in the same hour, on the same day, in the same year, but they’re not twins. What are they?

I’m a fervent riddle fan, and I’m also down right adamant in my refusal to give up and check the answers before racking my brain for at least a few days seeking the solution. In fact, it probably wouldn’t be too off base to say I turn harmless riddles into some personal wars.

Why would anyone claiming to be perfectly sane (at least most of the time) expend so much energy on such a simple game? It’s not the fun of them that I find most rewarding, it’s the educational lesson riddles present when you do discover the solution.

Think of any riddle you’ve ever solved. Now, think of your first reaction when you either figured out or were given the answer. I bet it was something along the lines of, Of course! That was so simple.

That’s the point of riddles to present a problem with a simple, yet not-so-obvious, solution that is often not thought of because people are too entrenched in a particular manner of thinking that restricts their ability to consider new solutions. In short, a riddle is a mental trap that illustrates our tendencies to make the simplest of problems more difficult than they really are.

The people I’ve known who are the most accomplished riddle solvers are those people who approach each problem or quandary they encounter with a fresh perspective and minimal preconceived notions that have nothing to do with the facts of the problem.

Now think about how valuable these people are to an organization or company. How many times has your company, division, or staff labored away to solve a problem that in hindsight was really quite simple? How many times have you done this yourself?

What I, personally, find most frustrating about this behavior, is that I know I repeat it more than I should. And I imagine I’m not alone in that frustration. So I embrace riddles to remind me that the solutions to my problems don’t have to be complex, convoluted algorithms that require a Harvard Ph.D. to solve. Oftentimes, the solutions are much more obvious if I’ll just focus on what the problem really asks of me.

Oh, by the way, are you still wondering about the woman and her two sons? Well, she had triplets, hence they weren’t twins. Pretty simple, eh? Now just imagine how many other simple solutions are out there in your business and your life if you can just force yourself to eschew your traditional mental path followed for examining and solving problems.