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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and golagiving. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul

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<v Speaker 1>fella Aledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode five eighty five. There is a leadership lie

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<v Speaker 2>that keeps getting passed around boardrooms, masterminds, and business books.

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<v Speaker 2>That lie is this, problems are bad. We treat problems

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<v Speaker 2>like messes, to clean up fires, to put out things,

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<v Speaker 2>to get passed so we can get back to normal.

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<v Speaker 2>Leaders spend huge amounts of time trying to eliminate problems

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<v Speaker 2>instead of understanding them. And here's the truth. No one

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<v Speaker 2>likes to say out loud. Problems or where profit hides,

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<v Speaker 2>not motivational, poster profit, real profit, market share, loyalty, trust, pricing, power, momentum.

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<v Speaker 2>Every meaningful gain your business has ever made came from

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<v Speaker 2>a problem that someone else ignored, minimized, or complained about.

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<v Speaker 2>The difference between average leaders and exceptional ones is not

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<v Speaker 2>intelligence or experience. It's what they do when problems show up.

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<v Speaker 2>Most leaders see a problem and ask how fast can

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<v Speaker 2>we make this go away? High level leaders ask a

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<v Speaker 2>different question, what is this problem trying to tell us

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<v Speaker 2>that shift alone changes everything. Problems are signals. They reveal friction,

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<v Speaker 2>They expose gaps, They highlight unmet needs. They point directly

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<v Speaker 2>at where value can be created. If your customers are frustrated,

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<v Speaker 2>there's profit in that frustration. If your employees are confused,

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<v Speaker 2>there's profit in that confusion. If your systems keep breaking

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<v Speaker 2>in the same place, there's profit sitting right there in

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<v Speaker 2>the wreckage. But only if you're willing to slow down

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<v Speaker 2>long enough to look. Most leaders move too fast. They patch, smooth, apologize, discount,

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<v Speaker 2>and rush forward. They treat symptoms instead of studying causes.

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<v Speaker 2>So let me say this clearly. If you rush past problems,

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<v Speaker 2>you also rush past opportunity. The companies that win long

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<v Speaker 2>term do not have fewer problems. They are better at

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<v Speaker 2>mining them. Think about recurring complaints, not the one off noise,

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<v Speaker 2>but the patterns. When you hear the same issue again

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<v Speaker 2>and again. That's not bad luck, that is data. Recurring

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<v Speaker 2>problems are invitations. They're telling you where your process is weak,

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<v Speaker 2>where your communication breakdowns are, where expectations are misaligned, where

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<v Speaker 2>you're offering no longer matches reality. Leaders who profit from

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<v Speaker 2>problems do three things differently. First, they stop taking problems personally,

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<v Speaker 2>and this is huge. Many leaders see problems as criticism

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<v Speaker 2>of their leadership, so they get defensive. They explain, they justify,

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<v Speaker 2>They blame circumstances or people. The moment you defend, you

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<v Speaker 2>stop learning. Strong leaders separate ego from information. They understand

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<v Speaker 2>that a problem does not mean failure, it means feedback. Second,

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<v Speaker 2>they ask better questions. Instead of asking who caused this?

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<v Speaker 2>They ask why does this keep happening? Instead of asking

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<v Speaker 2>how do we fix this fast? They ask what would

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<v Speaker 2>prevent this entirely? Instead of asking how much will this cost?

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<v Speaker 2>They ask what does this cost us if we ignore it?

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<v Speaker 2>Better questions lead to better strategy, and better strategy leads

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<v Speaker 2>to profit that compounds. And Third, they redesign instead of repair.

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<v Speaker 2>This is where most leaders miss the opportunity. Repairs keep

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<v Speaker 2>things running. Redesign creates advantage. If you keep fixing the

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<v Speaker 2>same issue, you're paying a tax for not changing the system.

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<v Speaker 2>That tax shows up as wasted time, burned trust, employee fatigue,

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<v Speaker 2>and lost customers. Redesign is uncomfortable. It challenges habits, It

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<v Speaker 2>requires ownership. It often exposes decisions that should have been

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<v Speaker 2>made earlier. But redesign is where growth lives. And here's

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<v Speaker 2>another hard truth. Your biggest future revenue stream is probably

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<v Speaker 2>hiding inside your most annoying current problem, the delay. Everyone

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<v Speaker 2>complains about the process, everyone works around the friction. Customers

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<v Speaker 2>tolerate because they have no better option. Yet someone will

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<v Speaker 2>eventually solve that problem. The question is whether it will

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<v Speaker 2>be you or your competitor. This is where leadership courage matters.

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<v Speaker 2>Profiting from problems means leaning into discomfort before you're forced to.

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<v Speaker 2>It means listening closely when things are quiet, not waiting

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<v Speaker 2>for crisis volume. It means treating complaints as intelligence, not interruptions.

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<v Speaker 2>It also means being honest about what you tolerate. Problems

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<v Speaker 2>that linger do not by accident. They linger because leadership

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<v Speaker 2>allows them to. What you tolerate becomes your brand. What

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<v Speaker 2>you fix thoughtfully becomes your edge. If you want a

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<v Speaker 2>simple action step, here it is this week. Identify one

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<v Speaker 2>recurring problem in your organization that everyone knows about and

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<v Speaker 2>nobody owns. Write it down, and then ask one powerful question.

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<v Speaker 2>If we solve this completely, what would it change? Not

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<v Speaker 2>how do we manage it? But how do we eliminate

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<v Speaker 2>it or turn it into value. That question alone can

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<v Speaker 2>reshape how you think, how your team operates, and how

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<v Speaker 2>your business grows. So leadership is not about avoiding problems altogether.

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<v Speaker 2>It is about seeing what others overlook and then having

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<v Speaker 2>the discipline to act on it. Every problem that we

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<v Speaker 2>encounter as leaders carries a lesson. Some also carry profit.

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<v Speaker 2>The leaders who win this are the ones willing to

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<v Speaker 2>open the package instead of throwing it away. This has

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<v Speaker 2>been the seven minute Leadership podcast and I thank you

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<v Speaker 2>for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot

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<v Speaker 1>com