People Solve Problems

Rick Pedersen, owner of Old Norse Consulting, joined host Jamie Flinchbaugh to explore why product development demands a fundamentally different approach to problem-solving than traditional business processes. During their conversation, Rick explained that while most business functions involve transactional processes that can be documented and repeated, product development centers on building knowledge to solve problems that have never been encountered before. Rick draws a clear distinction between information gathering and genuine knowledge gaps. He explains that a true knowledge gap exists when answers cannot simply be looked up or obtained from an expert. Instead, teams must invest time and resources in building prototypes, running tests, or conducting simulations to create new knowledge. Rick advises teams facing uncertainty to document potential knowledge gaps quickly, then filter them to determine which require actual investigation versus simple research. The conversation revealed how knowledge creation serves as the lifeblood of product development, much like flow serves manufacturing. He emphasizes that the real value in product development comes from creating new knowledge and making it reusable. He compares this to compound interest, where teams that fail to document their discoveries essentially discard their gains rather than letting them accumulate over time. This results in organizations repeatedly solving the same problems across different projects, representing significant waste. Rick advocates for a shift from traditional task-oriented project management to organizing work around knowledge gaps. Rather than focusing solely on completing action items, teams should orient their efforts around closing knowledge gaps through what he calls fast learning loops or fast learning cycles. This approach helps teams understand why they are performing tasks and keeps the focus on building knowledge that enables better decisions. When discussing learning from industry leaders like Toyota, Rick cautions against simply copying their systems. He stresses the importance of understanding the thinking behind why successful companies use specific tools and behaviors, then adapting those principles to each organization's unique situation. He recommends starting small, selecting one or two pilot projects where teams can experiment with new methods while receiving coaching along the way. Rick recently launched the LPPD Bootcamp, an immersive workshop designed to accelerate learning about product development principles. He explains that the workshop addresses a fundamental challenge in product development: the years-long timeframe makes it difficult to see results and adjust quickly. The bootcamp compresses an entire product development cycle into less than a week, allowing participants to experience how different improvements interact and deliver benefits. The environment also helps teams practice cross-functional collaboration and establish shared reference points they can draw upon when working on real projects. Throughout the conversation, Rick emphasized that successful product development requires teams to recognize knowledge gaps, invest in closing them systematically, and capture what they learn for future reuse.  For more information about Rick's work, visit oldnorsellc.com and LPPDBootcamp.com, or connect with him on LinkedIn

Jason Trujillo, a transformational leader with a wide range of experiences, joined Jamie Flinchbaugh on the People Solve Problems podcast to share his unconventional path to becoming a transformational leader and his philosophy on structured problem-solving. With a career spanning companies like Stanley Black & Decker, IBM, Intel, and Harley-Davidson, Jason brings a unique perspective shaped by an unexpected beginning—art school. Jason explained that his engineering studies actually started at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he explored kinetic sculpture and human-machine interaction. This creative foundation became central to how he approaches problems today. He described problem-solving as fundamentally a creative process, always returning to questions like "What am I looking at? What does that mean? What can I do with it?" This artistic lens has stayed with him throughout his career, providing a unique vantage point for tackling complex business challenges. A key insight Jason shared is his belief in the power of constraints to fuel creativity. He noted that while young artists often rebel against limitations, there's nothing harder than facing a blank canvas with no boundaries. Jason sees direct parallels between art and business problem solving—just as telling someone to "fix the company" is too broad to be actionable, asking an artist to "make something" without constraints can be paralyzing. He emphasized that frameworks, heuristics, and rubrics provide essential guide rails that allow creative thinking to flourish within defined boundaries. When discussing his role as a transformation leader, Jason acknowledged the need to wear multiple hats depending on the situation. While he sometimes wishes he could simply fix a broken machine on his own, his current work requires shifting between being an accountable owner in executive meetings and a coach helping others develop their problem-solving capabilities. Jason finds the coaching role most rewarding because he gets to watch people learn, develop, and ultimately succeed—though he candidly admitted that winning doesn't happen as often as people assume, which makes success even sweeter. Jason introduced a particularly helpful concept he calls "altitude" when working with teams. He explained that sometimes people are working on the right problem but viewing it at the wrong level of detail. Engineers, for instance, might get stuck in technical specifics that aren't relevant to the broader business challenge. By helping them adjust their altitude—lifting up to see the bigger picture—Jason can help technical minds engage with problems at a more appropriate scope. On the topic of ideation and brainstorming, Jason admitted he used to be "triggered" by traditional brainstorming sessions that often devolved into appeasing the loudest voice or rushing to conclusions. Instead, he advocates for structured ideation using frameworks that make clear whether the group is trying to expand possibilities or converge on solutions. Jason stressed the importance of knowing what outcome to expect from an ideation session and preparing accordingly, transforming what could be an aimless discussion into a constructive planning session that leads to concrete action. Throughout the conversation, Jason emphasized his core principle: don't solve general problems because nobody has a general problem. Success comes from getting specific, using frameworks intentionally, and helping others build their own problem-solving capabilities. Connect with Jason Trujillo on LinkedIn to learn more about his approach to transformation and operational excellence.

In this episode of People Solve Problems, host Jamie Flinchbaugh welcomes Norbert Majerus, a creative problem solver at Norbert Majerus Consulting. With 45 years in industrial creativity and 60 US patents to his name, Norbert brings deep expertise from his years implementing lean product development at Goodyear's global innovation centers. Norbert draws a clear distinction between creativity and innovation that cuts through the confusion around these terms. Creativity, he explains, is about generating new ideas and creating something new. Innovation happens when those creative ideas are brought to market and generate value. Not every creative idea becomes an innovation—only a select few make that leap—but creativity remains essential across all problem-solving contexts, whether the immediate goal involves profit or not. The conversation turns to a pressing challenge: many organizations find themselves trapped in a box of their own making, unable to think beyond established patterns. Norbert identifies several significant obstacles to industrial creativity. Fear stands as the most formidable barrier. He shares a personal story of nearly being fired by a vice president who refused to allow risky new ideas, illustrating how leaders focused on protecting their careers create cultures where people avoid taking chances. When the perceived risk of failure outweighs the potential for success in someone's mind, creativity withers. Beyond fear, Norbert points to the physical environment as a surprisingly important factor. He contrasts his experience visiting Google—where the environment changed dramatically every 50 steps, with bikes and stimulating spaces—against his own workplace, which was redesigned with uniform white walls and strict prohibitions on personalization. Environment shapes culture, and culture shapes creativity. Norbert emphasizes that today's complex problems cannot be solved within narrow functional boundaries. True creativity requires collaboration across disciplines and departments, bringing together different perspectives. Yet many companies inadvertently educate their people to work against each other rather than together. Breaking down these silos requires intentional cultural work. To foster collaboration, Norbert developed a powerful exercise involving teams solving five interconnected puzzles. Participants initially approach the task individually, trying to solve their own puzzle first. They consistently fail until they realize they can only succeed by helping each other. Even resistant leaders eventually grasp the lesson. Norbert stresses that behaviors must come before beliefs—lecturing about collaboration doesn't work, but creating experiences that demonstrate its value does. For managers who want to move in this direction without the authority to change company culture, Norbert offers practical advice. First, find a sponsor or supporter who can help break down walls and provide air cover. Second, and critically, start with something significant. Rather than working on countless tiny projects that never make a visible impact, tackle a problem big enough that solving it will bring others to your door, asking how you did it. Success with meaningful challenges builds momentum far more effectively than incremental wins on trivial matters. Throughout his career, Norbert learned that subtle approaches work better than direct mandates. Taking teams to visit other companies nearby, exposing them to different ways of working, proved transformative. Within six months, teams that initially fought and blamed each other were asking, "How can I help you?" when problems arose. For more insights on lean-driven innovation and creative problem-solving, visit Norbert's website at leandriveninnovation.com or connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/norbert-majerus-5a746235/.   You can find Norbert’s books here: Winning Innovation and Lean-Driven Innovation

In this episode of People Solve Problems, host Jamie Flinchbaugh speaks with Maureen (Moe) Rinkunas, Director of Insights Membership at Rock Health Advisory. Moe brings over 20 years of experience spanning corporate innovation, venture studios, and advisory leadership at organizations including DuPont, Accenture, Dreamit Ventures, and Redesign Health. Moe opens the conversation by sharing her fundamental belief that everyone possesses problem-solving capabilities, shaped by evolution itself. However, she emphasizes that people bring different strengths to the table. When working with teams, she takes time to understand individual styles and leverages them strategically throughout the innovation process. Moe explains how naturally optimistic team members excel at generating ideas and maintaining energy during brainstorming sessions, while more skeptical individuals prove invaluable when narrowing options and making final decisions. By understanding these diverse strengths, she creates environments where different personalities contribute at the right moments. The conversation shifts to collaboration and the messy nature of innovation work. Moe stresses that psychological safety forms the foundation of effective problem-solving. She explains that trust must be built over time, creating a reserve that teams can draw upon when facing uncomfortable challenges. She shares a powerful example from her time at DuPont, where leaders instituted a "Dead Project Day" on the Day of the Dead, encouraging people at all levels to share their failures. Initially met with skepticism, this practice became an annual tradition that normalized risk-taking and built lasting trust within the organization. When discussing innovation leadership, Moe introduces the concept of leaders as snowplows. She describes how innovation leaders must clear paths for their teams by navigating organizational politics, communicating effectively with senior leadership, and helping others understand that innovative projects require different metrics and timelines than traditional initiatives. This protective role helps create safe spaces where teams can do their best work, even when external pressures threaten psychological safety. Moe advocates strongly for test-and-learn approaches in innovation work. She emphasizes developing minimal viable solutions paired with "what must be true" statements that guide testing priorities. Her teams create learning plans with clear testing commitments, specific metrics, and defined timeframes. Moe suggests framing decisions around manageable increments, asking what information teams need to decide whether to continue, pivot, or stop after six weeks rather than demanding absolute certainty. This approach makes testing feel achievable and keeps teams moving forward with practical confidence. Looking at healthcare innovation specifically, Moe identifies significant opportunities in an industry facing mounting pressures around staffing shortages and affordability challenges. She notes that while many innovators develop point solutions addressing specific problems, the real opportunity lies in creating connections between these innovations. She encourages entrepreneurs to think about integrated, holistic healthcare experiences that reflect how people actually live with and experience their health. Throughout the conversation, Moe demonstrates how thoughtful attention to team dynamics, psychological safety, and structured learning processes enables innovation work to flourish. Her insights offer practical guidance for anyone leading creative problem-solving efforts in complex organizational environments. To learn more about Moe's work, visit Rock Health Advisory at https://rockhealth.com/advisory/ or connect with her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwrinkunas/.

J. Chris White, Co-Founder and CEO of scmBLOX, joined host Jamie Flinchbaugh to explore the critical differences between systems thinking and systems dynamics, and how these approaches can transform supply chain management. As a systems dynamics modeler with 30 years of experience covering operations and supply chains, Chris brought deep expertise to this conversation about solving complex business problems. Chris explained that while many people embrace systems thinking after reading Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline," they often miss that Senge was actually a systems dynamicist trained by Jay Forrester, who created systems dynamics. According to Chris, systems thinking provides valuable guidance, but when it comes to actually solving problems, you need the rigor of systems dynamics modeling and simulation. He described systems thinking as appreciating the use of data in decision making, while systems dynamics is doing all the math to generate that data. The conversation revealed how he views systems dynamics as another tool in the problem-solving toolbox. He emphasized that it works best for larger, interconnected problems where you need to see the whole system view. He explained that systems are collections of parts that are interrelated and interconnected, all working together to achieve a goal. As systems become more complex, the relationships between parts begin to dominate, which is where systems dynamics shines. When discussing supply chain management specifically, Chris highlighted how traditional "end-to-end" approaches are actually quite limited. Most companies only track orders from their immediate suppliers to customer delivery, but he pointed out that COVID-19 revealed how interconnected supply chains really are. The disruptions, bullwhip effects, and shortages that dominated news cycles showed that problems happening several tiers upstream can significantly impact your business. Chris used a tree analogy to illustrate this point: there's little value in optimizing the leaves when you should have been on a different branch strategically to begin with. He emphasized that resilience is more of a system phenomenon than an individual company trait, and that understanding supply chains as systems gives you more power to change the future. One of the biggest surprises he encounters when working with clients is how little data they actually need to get started. Unlike statistical models that rely heavily on data, systems dynamics focuses on causal connections and structure. He explained that if you know what you're making and have a bill of materials, your supply chain usually mirrors that structure. This allows companies to begin modeling without perfect visibility into every supplier's capacity or inventory levels. Chris emphasized that when companies optimize only their individual parts of the supply chain, they often create unintended effects that come back to hurt them later. What seems beneficial in the short term can actually cause problems in the long term. The goal is to help companies understand how their decisions impact the entire supply chain system, not just their immediate operations. Throughout the discussion, Chris demonstrated how systems dynamics provides a scientific approach to understanding supply chain vulnerabilities before disruptions occur, whether they're global events like the Suez Canal blockage or local issues like supplier bankruptcies. To learn more about Chris White's work in systems dynamics and supply chain management, visit scmblox.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.