RULE 07 OF 13 · PART 2: THE READING
Stand where the information is.
Not where the report is.
WHERE YOU ARE · SHARPENING MOVE 3: FIND THE ROOT
Where are you standing when you make your decisions?
If you run anything, a crew, a store, a team, a family, there's a good chance you're deciding from the report: the dashboard, the summary, the version of the problem that reached you after three people cleaned it up.
The information you need is almost never where you're standing. It's where the problem actually happens: on the floor, at the counter, on the call with the angry customer, in the kitchen at 9 p.m. Distance is a cost. Every layer between you and the problem trims the information, and you pay later for what got trimmed.
Chapter 7 is about empathy over customer service, the sixty seconds that tell you more than a report, and why leaders lose touch with the floor.
THE RULE, AGAIN
Every problem has a price, and every problem pays.
NOBODY GETS TO NOT PAY. YOU ONLY GET TO CHOOSE THE COLUMN.
SAY IT OUT LOUD
The answer is usually already known by me. It just depends on how long until I accept it.
Spend one hour where your problem actually happens: the shop floor, the customer call, the kitchen table. Don't fix anything. Only listen, and only ask why.
THE NEXT MOVE
The full chapter is in the book.
The stories, the objections and the teaching behind Rule 7 are in Chapter 7 of Problems Pay.