Proactive Problem Solving: Stop the Stupid and Build a Smarter, More Productive Organization
The way businesses operate is broken. You see it every day—inefficient systems, endless frustrations, and wasted time. Only 32% of employees feel engaged, while managers spend up to three hours a day fixing problems caused by flawed work systems. The result? Frustration, squandered resources, and missed opportunities.
In Proactive Problem Solving, Doug Hall—visionary founder of Eureka! Ranch and Brain Brew Distillery—delivers a bold solution to Stop the Stupid and eliminate what’s not working. His proven approach, developed through decades of innovation leadership, empowers organizations to find and fix problems by engaging everyone from the frontline to the c-suite in the problem-solving process.
Grounded in real-world success, this book draws from Doug’s experience leading more than 20,000 innovations at Eureka! Ranch and scaling Brain Brew Distillery from a startup to producing over 100,000 cases of bourbon annually.
Proactive Problem Solving dives deep to unearth proven methods for growth and profitability:
- Defining the Problems and Solutions: Identify what the problem is, then focus on the “why.” Pinpoint the issues that matter, and build communication skills needed to implement effective solutions.
- Creating Solutions: Understand the three principles that increase problem-solving capabilities: exploring stimulus, leveraging diversity and inclusion, and driving out fear. You’ll learn proven techniques for engaging employees, fostering innovation, and turning teams into problem-solving virtuosos.
- Driving out Risk as You Bring Your Idea to Life: Discover Doug’s reliable system for decreasing risk and increasing success. Transform good ideas into game-changing results.
Whether you’re a manager striving to lead more effectively or an employee wanting to make a greater impact, Proactive Problem Solving delivers actionable insights to revolutionize how work gets done. By implementing these methods, your organization can reduce costly mistakes, enhance employee satisfaction, and drive sustainable growth in today’s competitive business environment.
Doug Hall graduated with a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Maine. Doug’s work from a mechanical, electrical, and chemical perspective, plus his innovation experiences, landed him a job at Procter & Gamble, first as an engineer at their Mehoopany Paper Mill, then in brand management at the company headquarters on 6th Street in Cincinnati. Over 10 years he was promoted up through the ranks as Brand Manager, Associate Advertising Manager, and eventually as leader of the P&G Invention Team. Working together with Eric Schulz, a kindred spirit, they invented and shipped a record nine innovations for P&G brands in a 12-month period. His success wasn’t because they were smarter. Rather, it was because they focused on creating systems that enabled them to work faster and smarter.
After 10 years, Doug retired as an “employee” and founded what is known today as the Eureka! Ranch, an innovation consulting and training company. Multiple television appearances and several books later, he found himself wondering why some Eureka! Inventing sessions were more productive than others. Working with three statisticians, he embarked on two research projects.
The first study focused on the creation of ideas. It included surveys every 45 minutes as teams from Nike, Walt Disney, American Express, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi-Cola, and others came to Eureka! Ranch to invent big ideas. A team measured them before, during, and after each project. From this analysis they discovered how Stimulus, Diversity, and Driving Out Fear impacted project success.
The second study focused on what made ideas successful in the marketplace. Here he studied quantitative data on more than 20,000 ideas from the Eureka! Ranch archives and the database of AcuPOLL, a market research company Doug founded and eventually sold. From this analysis, he discovered how to quantify Meaningful Uniqueness as well as how to improve how ideas are communicated.
The studies were supplemented with real-world research on more than $20 billion in active improvement projects in our Innovation Engineering portal and a literature review of more than 2,000 academic articles. This research led to more books and articles. It also resulted in Doug receiving honorary doctorates from the University of Maine and the University of Prince Edward Island.
The research gave birth to a new field of academic study, management science, and business leadership known as Innovation Engineering. The core Innovation Engineering curriculum involves nine college courses of content and leads to associate degrees, graduate certificates, and Blue and Black Belt certifications by the Innovation Engineering Institute.
A few years ago, Doug started doing experiments on how wood interacts with whiskey. This work led to the creation of Brain Brew Custom Whiskey and WoodCraft Bourbon Blender franchising with co-founder Joe Girgash. Leading the whiskey business through rapid growth caused him to rethink the importance of Proactive Problem Solving. And thus, early one winter morning, the idea for this book was born. Doug’s goal is to use what he’s learned from more than 50 years of innovation to help everyone fix problems and find ideas for working smarter.
