Do not look for solutions where the light is

Published in El Pais, 12 December 2020.

A policeman finds a drunk in a crawling position under a streetlight. “What are you doing?” Asks the policeman. The drunkard responds: “I am looking for the keys to my house, I have lost them.” Out of grief, the policeman starts looking too and after a few minutes without success, he asks if he is sure he has lost them there. The drunkard replies: “No, I lost them in the park!” “And why are you looking here?” asks the annoyed policeman. “Because here is light” replies the happy drunk.

Is it funny? Would you be surprised if I told you that we all do the same thing from time to time?

This effect is known as the “Streetlight effect” and many times it causes a bias in investigations and decisions in business administration. A recent example is COVID-19. When the first death occurred in a hospital, only actions were considered to increase the capacity of the hospitals in that city. This bias prevented early prevention. It didn’t take long until deaths were recorded elsewhere to realize that COVID-19 was much earlier than previously thought and in different places.

Another example. A company had the intention of increasing its sales. After a long time they give up. More sales is not possible. When a consultant asks the owner why they are not trying to export to the US, the answer is that they did not have people with export experience or people who spoke English well. The company had light, its people, so they looked for “easy” solutions among themselves.

From time to time we have a problem, and we must force ourselves to look for solutions in those corners where we have not looked before. It is not easy! But keeping doing the same thing and expecting different results is a waste of time and money.

After the economic downturn due to COVID-19, the world’s economies need creative solutions. If you are someone who needs to solve a problem. Try looking in the less obvious places to find “the keys.”