FIRST, LET’S ASSUME WE HAVE A CAN OPENER
Sometimes we spend hours thinking about a problem, trying different approaches, and holding meetings to find a solution. Everyone offers suggestions, ideas are discussed, and calculations are made. Yet in the middle of all this effort, we may overlook the most important question of all:
“Do we actually have the resources we need to solve the problem?”
There is a little joke that illustrates this perfectly.
An economist, a chemist, and an engineer are stranded on a deserted island. All they have with them is a single can of baked beans. They are hungry, but there is one small problem: they have no can opener.
The engineer immediately proposes a solution. He will climb a palm tree to a precise height and throw the can to the ground at just the right angle. If his calculations are correct, the can will split open.
The chemist thinks this approach is too risky. He suggests leaving the can in the sun. As the temperature rises, he argues, the pressure will increase until the can eventually bursts.
The economist is unimpressed by both suggestions. One method might destroy the can, he says, while the other could cause them to lose some of the beans. He has come up with a much more sensible solution. According to him, there will be no unnecessary effort and not a single bean will be wasted.
The engineer and the chemist look at him curiously.
“So, what’s your solution?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, the economist replies:
“First, let’s assume we have a can opener!”
We can laugh at the joke and move on. But if we think about it for a moment, we realize that the economist’s approach is not confined to a funny story. In real life, we sometimes do exactly the same thing. We assume we have resources that are not available, treat conditions that do not exist as if they were already in place, and then wonder why our plans fail.
Consider a manager who wants employees to work faster and more efficiently. The manager sets targets, requests reports, and measures performance. Yet the tools employees need to do their jobs are never provided. When the expected results fail to materialize, the manager is surprised.
Or consider a teacher who wants to improve students’ achievement. The classroom is overcrowded, teaching materials are inadequate, and students have different needs. Nevertheless, we expect every student to learn at the same pace and reach the same level of achievement. When results fall short of expectations, the teacher is often the first person held accountable.
Yet sometimes the problem is not that people are failing to make enough effort. It is that the conditions they need to do the job expected of them have never been put in place.
Throughout my academic career, I encountered various examples of this in education and management. Developing new models, building theories, and preparing detailed plans are certainly important. But when we fail to take account of the circumstances in which people must put those plans into practice, even proposals that look perfect on paper may have little impact in the real world.
Imagine that you want to bring about change in an organization. You expect employees to come up with new ideas, take responsibility, and move beyond familiar ways of doing things. Yet you have created an environment in which people are afraid of being criticized for thinking differently and punished for making mistakes. How much creativity can you realistically expect in such a workplace?
Holding people responsible without giving them authority, demanding success without providing resources, or expecting innovation in an environment that discourages criticism is much like trying to open a can without a can opener. You can change your methods, but as long as you ignore the fundamental obstacle, the outcome may remain the same.
There is, however, an important distinction to make. Thinking in terms of assumptions is not inherently wrong. Scientific research and economic models often rely on certain assumptions to help us understand complex situations. The problem begins when we forget the conditions under which those assumptions hold true. Demonstrating that a model works under particular circumstances is one thing; assuming that those circumstances already exist in real life is quite another.
I believe the real issue is not how impressive our ideas sound, but how well they correspond to reality. When we develop a plan, asking “What should we do?” is not enough. We must also ask, “What do we need in order to do it, and do we actually have those resources?”
Sometimes what is missing is not knowledge, but the conditions needed to put that knowledge into practice. And sometimes we do not need to invent another method to solve a problem. We simply need to acknowledge, honestly, what we lack.
As in many other areas of life, success in education, management, and human relationships depends on more than setting the right goals. We must also create the conditions that make those goals achievable.
After all, it does not matter how cleverly three hungry people reason about opening a can if none of them has a can opener. At some point, if they want to avoid going hungry, they must stop relying on assumptions and face the reality of what they have and what they do not have.
Sometimes the first step toward solving a problem is not to come up with a solution, but to acknowledge honestly what we lack.