I often catch myself using the word "solution" or the verb "to solve". But slowly but surely I am eliminating these measly marketing words from my vocabulary. Let me explain.
We talk all the time about "solving business problems" or of "business solutions" or "KM solutions. Marketers love such phrases. But there are no solutions to complex business problems. There are only partial solutions. And even these may only work for a limited period of time in an ever changing business environment. And there are always unintended side-effects that can often be more detrimental than the original problem.
Thus we can only ever "respond" to problems in a continuous adaptive way. So we really need to stop using the word "solution" as it tends to seduce us into a false sense of security that problems can be solved once and for all.
There are NO "solutions" to complex business issues – only “responses” to them.
