How to attack ANY PROBLEM like a FBI Investigator

*PROBLEM – something you are trying to solve, a business you want to start, a trip you want to plan, planning to pay off your credit card, creating a new product for your existing business, etc. (when I use PROBLEM in this post, I am referring to any and all situations that you want to do, but do not know how to do successfully at the moment)

---

​This blog stems from a conversation I had with a friend of mine that works in the FBI on criminal investigations.  She was interested in starting a boxing program for youth that might be non-profit or part of a city program.  She wanted to charge right in to the Chief of Police to ask to start the program right away, but realized that she might need a little more advice before taking that action.  She came to me for advice.
 
I am a busy person, so my first suggestion was to treat the process of creating the boxing gym in the same way she would treat an Investigation she was doing as part of the FBI.  However, it was not easy for her to think about the steps of investigation she used in the FBI and apply them to creating a city youth boxing program.  As we had the conversation and I walked her through the steps, likening each one to an investigation step she would take in her job, the plan of attack became clearer to her.
 
Going through this process with her made me realize that a lot of people have the skills to solve any PROBLEM they encounter.  They just cannot transfer the skills they have for solving a PROBLEM in one sector of their life to another sector.  Out of that realization, this Blog post was born.

Read More