As a young woman, Jane Goodall traveled from her home country of England to Tanzania to do research on chimpanzees. Others had studied the animals in the past, but Jane’s method was different. She immersed herself in the chimpanzees’ world. She lived among them, observed them and folded herself into their way of life. And it was through that experience that the eyes of the world were opened to what was really happening with these animals, what their challenges were, how they worked, and what their lives actually looked like. It was only through being fully embedded that true understanding was possible. That’s the same idea that GE Digital puts into practice to fuel the digital revolution of the biggest companies operating around the world.

Pat Byrne, the CEO of GE Digital knows that the best way to help someone is to get to know them and the best way to find a solution is to first thoroughly understand the problem.  Find out how he and GE Digital does that to power business solutions on this episode of Business X factors.  

Main takeaways:  

• Love the Problem and Then the Solution: To develop solutions that create impact, it is important to understand what clients have to deal with on a daily basis, the problems they are trying to solve, and the challenges they face. Figure out what customers are trying to accomplish. What is important to them? Why? Fall in love with the customer’s problem before you fall in love with the solution.
• Go to Gemba: Gemba translates as the ‘real place,’ and in business, it refers to the real place where value is created.  To find it, you have to fully immerse yourself with companies from the c-suite to the shop floor. You have to learn and understand what is happening across every level of a business to optimize the value stream and find the point of maximum impact to avoid solving the wrong problems.
• Avoid the "Innovate in Isolation" Trap: Developers and designers need to be mindful that they are designing with their users in mind and not just creating insular products. They too often approach a challenge with a specific end product in mind that is meant for expert users when in reality it might not solve the problems of the majority of users. Get to know the users of a solution before you jump in and institute a co-design process in order to ease the adoption of solutions and technology.

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