"Are you solving the right problem or the fastest one or the easiest one?" — Gabriel Salguero

Key Takeaway: Most leadership mistakes are not execution failures. They are diagnosis failures. When leaders slow down long enough to identify the real problem, their decisions become more targeted, their energy is better spent, and their teams gain confidence in the direction being set.

Introduction

There is a pattern that shows up in leadership again and again. Something goes wrong. A team underperforms. A goal gets missed. A conflict surfaces. And the leader jumps into action.

New process. New conversation. New initiative. Sometimes a new person.

But the problem returns. Maybe in a different form. Maybe with a different team member involved. Maybe after a few weeks of quiet.

The reason this happens is not a lack of effort. It is a lack of diagnosis.

Leaders are often rewarded for being decisive and fast. That pressure makes it tempting to solve the most visible problem, the fastest problem, or the easiest one.

But solving the wrong problem quickly is not progress. It is expensive distraction.

Main Leadership Insight

1. Most Problems Have a Root Cause That Is Not Obvious at First Glance

Richard Rumelt makes an important distinction in his work on strategy. Good strategy starts with an honest diagnosis of the situation. Not an assumption. Not a guess. An actual examination of what is really happening.

This matters because what leaders first observe is often a symptom, not the source.

A team that seems unmotivated may actually be unclear on priorities. A deadline that keeps getting missed may be a sign that the scope was never realistic. A leader who feels overwhelmed may be dealing with a delegation problem, not a capacity problem.

As Thomas Carlyle once wrote, "Nothing is more terrible than activity without insight."

When leaders skip diagnosis, they move fast in the wrong direction.

2. The Problem Is Often the Way You See the Problem

Stephen Covey wrote something that has stayed with me for years.

"The way we see the problem is the problem."

Leaders carry assumptions into every situation. They have seen similar patterns before, so they apply a familiar solution. Sometimes it works. But often the situation is different in ways that matter, and the familiar solution does not fit.

Diagnosis requires a leader to temporarily set aside what they think they already know. It requires asking questions before announcing answers. It requires sitting with discomfort long enough to gather real information.

This is not a natural posture for leaders who are used to moving fast. But it is the one that produces better outcomes over time.

3. Reacting to Symptoms Keeps Leaders Stuck in a Loop

Here is what happens when leaders skip diagnosis consistently.

They solve the presenting problem. Things calm down. Then the same type of problem surfaces again, often two to four weeks later, sometimes with a different team member or a slightly different context.

This cycle is exhausting. And it is entirely predictable.

The presenting problem is a signal. It is pointing at something underneath that has not been addressed. But because leaders are busy and under pressure, they respond to the signal rather than investigating what is generating it.

PraxisCarry℠ describes this shift clearly. Leaders who have developed real strategic capability move from tactical execution to strategic thinking. They diagnose before they react. They design systems instead of absorbing chaos.

At Apple I learned and now regularly use the 3 “Why’s” as a way to drill down and find root cause.

That shift does not happen by accident. It requires intentional practice.

4. A Good Diagnosis Reveals Where to Focus Your Energy

When a leader takes time to diagnose correctly, something valuable happens.

The path forward becomes clearer. Not easier, necessarily, but clearer. Decisions become more targeted. The team gains confidence because the leader is responding to what is actually happening rather than what appears to be happening.

The Rumelt Kernel structures this sequence as Diagnosis → Guiding Policy → Coherent Actions. Diagnosis is not the prelude to strategy. It is the foundation of it.

Without it, guiding policies are built on assumptions and coherent actions become scattered effort.

Practical Example

A leader I worked with was dealing with what appeared to be a performance issue on their team.

One team member was consistently missing deliverables. The leader had already had two conversations about expectations, and nothing had changed. They came to our session ready to start a formal performance process.

Before we moved there, we spent time diagnosing.

What we discovered was that the team member had never received clear direction on which deliverables were priorities. There were competing requests coming from multiple leaders, and no one had clarified which took precedence.

The real problem was not performance. It was a structure problem that made consistent performance nearly impossible.

Once the leader addressed the structure, the behavior changed. The team member did not need a performance plan. They needed clarity.

Diagnosis saved weeks of misplaced effort and a significant amount of relational damage.

Leadership Application

Before you move into solution mode on your next challenge, pause and run through a short diagnostic process.

There are three questions worth asking before any major decision:

1. What is the presenting problem?

   • Write it down in one sentence. This is what you can currently observe.

2. What might be causing this?

   • List at least three possible root causes. Push past the first obvious answer. And ALWAYS ASSUME POSITIVE INTENT.

3. What would I need to know to be certain?

   • Identify what information you are missing. What have you assumed? Who have you not yet asked?

This process does not have to take long. But it has to happen before you act.

A helpful tool from my coaching work is the Strategic Diagnosis Sheet, which guides leaders through this kind of structured inquiry before choosing a course of action. It slows the reactive impulse down long enough for real thinking to take place.

Clarity begins with the right question, not the fastest answer.

Closing Reflection

Fast decisions feel like strong leadership. And sometimes they are.

But the most consequential leadership moments rarely call for immediate action. They call for accurate understanding.

When you take time to diagnose before you act, you stop recycling problems and start solving them. Your team feels that difference. Your decisions carry more weight. And you spend your leadership energy on what actually matters.

Diagnosis is not slow leadership. It is the kind of leadership that makes speed meaningful.

If you want to strengthen your diagnostic thinking as a leader, start with reflection.

Complete my Leadership Self-Assessment Survey to identify where your leadership systems may need strengthening.

If you would like to work through this framework inside your organization, you are welcome to schedule a short introduction call.

If you're ready, we can explore this together.