Many people confuse symptoms with causes when attempting to solve problems.

In an article written for Harvard Business Review in 1963, Peter Drucker observed, “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”

The same is true of asking the wrong questions.

Years ago, a colleague of Albert Einstein’s in the physics department at Princeton pointed out to him that he always asked the same questions on his final examinations. Why? “The questions don’t change but every year, the correct answers do.”

One of the most important but least appreciated core competencies is to know which questions to ask. That is a challenge that decision-makers face each day. Then they must determine the right answers and fishboning is an especially effective way to do that. Basically, it involves asking “Why?” until the correct answer is revealed.

Correct answers to the wrong questions are worthless.

The same is true of doing “with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”

David Russell shares some brilliant insights that will help anyone develop much sharoer analytical skills. Please click here to check out his discussion of “Five Why’s Root Cause Analysis with Ishikawa’s Fishbone Diagram.”