Chapter 3: Problem Discovery
→ Explore The Entrepreneurial and Leadership Lens →
What is something around you that does not work as well as it should?
Think about your everyday life. Maybe students wait a long time for transportation after school. Maybe someone in your family struggles to find a service they need. Maybe a website makes a simple task unnecessarily difficult. Maybe people want to participate in something but cost, location or accessibility keeps getting in the way.
Sometimes a problem is obvious. Sometimes it becomes so normal that people stop questioning it. They say: “That is just how it is.” Entrepreneurs and leaders learn to look again. They pay attention to friction, frustration, exclusion, waste, confusion and unmet needs because these can signal that something is not working as well as it could.
Through an Entrepreneurial Lens
An entrepreneurial lens changes the questions you ask. Instead of only saying: “This is annoying.” you begin asking:
What is actually happening?
Who experiences this?
How often does it happen?
Why does it matter?
What are people doing about it now?
That curiosity matters because opportunities are not always obvious. They often begin with a problem, need or gap that someone takes the time to notice and understand.
Through an Leadership Lens
Leaders also pay attention to problems. But their responsibility extends beyond simply noticing that something is wrong. They ask:
Who is affected?
Whose experience have we not considered?
What could happen if this continues?
What responsibility do I have before deciding what should be done?
Leadership requires you to understand a situation before making decisions that affect other people.
See It Differently
A youth program notices that several registered participants stop attending after the first few weeks. Different people might respond differently.
“They obviously were not committed.”
“We need more exciting activities.”
“Something is happening. Before deciding why, we need to find out what is making participation difficult.”
Which response shows the strongest problem-discovery thinking?
The first makes an assumption about the people. The second jumps immediately to a solution. The third recognizes that something needs to be investigated. The correct response is Response 3. That difference is important throughout this module.
Framing the Problem
When you notice a problem, it is easy to jump straight to a solution. But if the solution is built into the way you describe the problem, you may limit what you are able to discover.
For example: “Teenagers need a shuttle to attend community programs.” This already assumes the answer is a shuttle. A clearer problem statement would be: “Some teenagers cannot attend community programs because they do not have reliable transportation.”
Now the focus is on the actual barrier, not one possible solution.
Framing the problem clearly gives you room to understand who is affected, what is happening and why it matters before deciding what could solve it.
Knowledge Check
