Ogni problema ha una soluzione | Renzo Provedel | TEDxMontebelluna
The speaker connects two personal stories—one about using imagination exercises to achieve mental clarity and the other about the birth of open innovation—to argue that truly solving problems requires the skill of deep, generative listening. He demonstrates this by showing how defining the problem correctly, through careful listening, is the first half of the solution.
## Theses & Positions
- *Every problem has a solution.*
- Listening is essential for both achieving mental clarity and developing problem-solving skills.
- Defining a problem well is necessary for solving it; understanding the problem leads "halfway there."
- The concept of "open innovation" advocates for leveraging knowledge from a global "crowd" rather than confining solutions to a company's inner circle.
- Open innovation is essentially a habit of engaging with the world, similar to using Wikipedia to explore an initial curiosity.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Balloons (Mental Ballooning):** An imaginative exercise where the mind's noise is visualized as balloons entering the screen, which, when expelled, reveal a clean screen (representing mental clarity).
- **Listening Types:**
- **Downloading:** Acquiring information by downloading files or photographs from the internet.
- **Factual Listening:** Extracting concrete, practical facts and data from what is being told.
- **Empathic Listening:** Placing oneself in another person's shoes to feel their emotions, fears, and anxieties.
- **Generative Listening:** Making the mind work while listening to generate images, metaphors, or other complex concepts, without a non-verbal response.
- **Closed Innovation:** Traditional problem-solving confined to a company's internal circle of suppliers and consultants.
- **Open Innovation:** A system for problem-solving that uses the knowledge and talent of the global "crowd."
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Mental Cleansing (Balloon Technique):** Requires physical posture awareness (straight back, weight on legs parallel to the floor) while visualizing releasing intrusive thoughts ("balloons") to achieve a clean, undistracted mental state.
- **Problem Solving Model:** The process moves from identifying a problem to solving it, suggesting that defining the problem correctly is the necessary precursor to finding a solution.
- **Open Innovation Process (P&G example):** Procter & Gamble, facing a crisis, adopted a strategy requiring external collaboration to ensure "half of the Apple product lines... are born thanks to an intervention, an external collaboration."
## Timeline & Sequence
- **Approx. 10 Years Ago:** Attended a course to become a coach, where the ballooning experience was taught.
- **Two Years Ago (2016):** Attended a course organized by the "mighty" to learn about listening techniques.
- **2000:** Procter & Gamble faced a crisis with $30 billion in turnover, leading to a strategic shift.
- **Three Years After (2003/2004):** The concept of "open innovation" was popularized by an American professor who wrote a book.
- **Present:** The speaker is drawing parallels between these historical events and modern problem-solving habits.
## Named Entities
- **Procter & Gamble:** American company, large by 2000, with $30 billion turnover, facing profit crises.
- **Flai:** New president of Procter & Gamble.
- **University of Berkeley:** Institution where the American professor wrote the book.
## Numbers & Data
- P&G turnover in 2000: **$30 billion**.
- Number of P&G researchers in 2000: **8,000**.
- Percentage of P&G products to be born from external collaboration (in 5 years): **half**.
- Global internet users: **6 billion**.
- Potential pool of knowledgeable people: **70–70 million**.
- Number of "listening types" listed: **4**.
## Examples & Cases
- **The Ballooning Exercise:** Participants visualize projecting mental balloons onto a screen and expelling them to achieve a clean background/mind.
- **Downloading an Image:** Example of downloading a file or photograph from the internet to be viewed later.
- **P&G Crisis:** The need to change strategy using unknown external talents to save the company.
- **Wikipedia Search:** Example of typing a problem or curiosity in natural language and receiving many potential answers, finding relevant ones on the first few pages.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **The Internet/Google:** Used as the mechanism for "downloading" and "curiosity-driven" searching.
- **Wikipedia:** Used as a primary example of open knowledge retrieval.
## References Cited
- **Socrates** and **Aristotle**: Mentioned in the context of the ancient Greeks discussing problem-solving.
- **American Professor (Unnamed):** Authored the book popularizing open innovation; quoted as writing *open innovation*.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Closed Innovation:** Responding only to one's "closest circle of supplier consultants."
- **Open Innovation:** Using the global "crowd" for support, which contrasts with closed methods.
- **Mental State:** The difference between a "clean mind" (achieved through the exercise) and a "clear mind" (needed for listening).
## Methodology
- **Experiential Learning:** Using coached exercises (the ballooning) to illustrate abstract cognitive states.
- **Historical Case Study:** Analyzing P&G's transition from internal R&D reliance to external collaboration.
- **Conceptual Mapping:** Drawing a line between the mental process of listing knowledge and the societal process of open innovation.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- To solve a problem, one must first pay close attention to defining the problem, as this step is "halfway there."
- The primary action required is **listening**—specifically, listening to oneself and to others.
- Generative listening, coupled with defining the problem through listening, is the optimal approach.
## Implications & Consequences
- The failure to correctly define a problem leads to chasing "non-existent problems, modest problems, non-determining problems."
- Open innovation suggests that human ingenuity is diffuse and globally connected, requiring methods that tap into that vast, decentralized knowledge pool.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"Every problem a solution."*
- *"This is a great lesson, a lesson to prepare ourselves for what, to listen."*
- *"I want to use the talents, the technologies that today we do not know, we do not frequent."*
- *"I want that in five years, in a period of five years, half of the Apple protein products are not born thanks to an intervention, an external collaboration."*
- *"A well-defined problem is halfway there."*
- *"We often chase non-existent problems, modest problems, non-determining problems."*
- *"Open innovation means an open mind, basically, so one is a habit we have, but what a characteristic of this historical period that is very important."*