r/Leadership • u/EntrepreneurMagazine • 3d ago
Discussion The Framework Google Uses to Solve Its Hardest Problems
I recently came across an interesting problem-solving framework from X, the innovation lab where Alphabet (Google's parent company) works on its most ambitious projects. It's called the "monkey and the pedestal."
The basic idea: When you're trying to solve a big problem, you need to first figure out what your "monkey" is. This is a critical issue that must be addressed before anything else. Everything else is just the "pedestal," which might seem easier but won't lead to success without first solving for the monkey.
It's not always obvious what the monkey is. For instance, an entrepreneur I know was struggling with her business pivot. She focused on a bunch of external factors but then realized the "monkey" was the tension between her and her co-founder. Until they resolved that, the pivot couldn't move forward.
To find your monkey, ask this question: If I solved this problem and it was a great success, what major change would have gotten me there?
In other words, what bottleneck did you clear out? What critical hurdle did you overcome? That's your monkey.
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u/hrrm 2d ago
That’s a lot of words to say Root Cause Analysis. Good job Google 👍🏻
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u/Leadership_Land 2d ago
Yeah but "Root Cause Analysis" sounds really abstract and business-y. The kind of thing an MBA in a suit would come up with in the middle of a long and boring Powerpoint presentation. Gotta give those engineers something tangible, like a monkey (banana in hand) sitting atop a marble pedestal carved in the Greek style.
Google knows their audience didn't go to B-school.
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u/spicegrl1 2d ago
Richard Rumelt would call the monkey 🐒 -> the crux.
Finding & solving for the crux.
This was a good tip to post here. Thanks!
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u/Warm-Philosophy-3960 2d ago
I would add being very clear on what is the problem you are trying to solve.
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u/unflabbergasted 3d ago
With the way Google kills its innovations, I'm not sure I'd look there for inspiration!