4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 1/41
Chief of Procurement Work for The United Nations Global Service Centre as Chief Procurement
Don't miss what's trending in the United KingdomStay informed on the local, professional content you need to know.
Follow United Kingdom
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 2/41
How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes?Mar 31, 2016 96 views 6 Likes 12 Comments
Previously we looked at a few of the key mental processes responsible for helping
us to make sense of the world we live in. The conclusion drawn from this was that
Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgrLeadership & Management Coach > No SnakeOil > No False Prophecies > NoExcuses > Just Results!
Follow
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 3/41
despite factors such as having much in common, operating from within the same
context or sharing similar values and beliefs, no two people can think exactly the
same because each person operates from their own “model” of the world. So from
this position of difference, how can we arrive at a consensus? One way is to
consider the mental processes of problemsolving & decision making.
Here’s a couple of thoughts for your consideration:
1. When dealing with a problem determine the level of its complexity. Is the
problem smaller and well defined (a difficulty) or is it bigger and ill defined
(a mess)?
Difficulties can be approached rationally. You know what the problem is, what
you need to know in order to decide what to do, and what it is that you are trying
to achieve. Finding the most suitable supplier to produce your office stationary
would be a difficulty: You know you need stationary to correspond with your
clients, you know more or less what the “going rate” is, you know how much you
can afford to spend, you know how and where to seek out recommendations for a
reliable supplier and you know that you need the stationary in your hands within
14 days. When dealing with difficulties it is reasonable to seek solutions.
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 4/41
Messes are more complex and therefore less susceptible to rational solutions.
They require managing rather than solving. A business in trouble because of
cheaper imports, high labour costs, limited technological advancement, little
innovation and employee infighting is a mess – especially if the directors can’t
agree on the best way forward!
2. When faced with a mess resist the temptation to “simplify” just because coping
with complexity is unpleasant. Try to avoid ignoring the most problematic bits of
the situation in order to artificially turn the mess into a difficulty. Resist the urge
to apply common sense.
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 5/41
Why Should We Avoid Making Common Sense Decisions When
Dealing with A Mess?
Common sense is form a of simplification, using unconscious ‘theories’ your
values, beliefs & metaprograms and focuses on only those features that previous
experience has shown to be significant. Your ‘theories’ and your experience will of
course be somewhat different from those of your colleagues. (My previous post
explains why this is so). You will find therefore that your ‘common sense’ solution
is quite different from someone else’s. The common sense approach often
involves a single decision maker who may or may not achieve “buy in” from
others. This is not to argue that common sense is always a bad thing. Indeed, if
something runs counter to common sense you should question it. When
conditions are relatively constant, and past experience is a good guide to dealing
with present situations, common sense can be extremely useful. It can however
also be limiting and restrict learning and adaptation.
What Does Common Sense Look Like?
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 6/41
So How Should We Deal With a Mess?
Uncommon Sense recognises that nowadays, particularly within a business
context, conditions are often volatile rather than constant. It recognises that
people operate from their own models of the world and uses this as an advantage
to construct multiple models of the same situation or problem. Each model is
then systematically discussed within the context of each person’s observations,
theories, past experiences and previous learning. The degree of subjectivity that
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 7/41
each person brings to the discussion is teased out through questioning designed
to bring to light individuals´processes of filtering: Why do you believe that to be
the case? What is your attitude towards taking this risk? Can you see the value in
John´s approach? What specific situation does this remind you of? How is the
situation similar and how is it different? Such questioning is extremely powerful
for highlighting, weakening and eliminating all assumptions being made. What
remains are largely the objective thoughts and ideas based on relevant
experiences and learning all of which point towards a considered and very often a
fully supported way forward.
What Does Uncommon Sense Look Like?
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 8/41
If you would like to discover some more about working with difficulties, messes
and using common and uncommon sense, I’d like to recommend a couple of
books/papers:
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 9/41
Report this
Written byBarry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr
12 comments
“Against the Grain” by Cameron and Pearce
“The Art and Science of Mass Management” by Ackoff (Interfaces Volume 11
pages 2022)
Thanks for reading and have a great week.
Barry
Leadership, Leadership Development,
Personal Development
Follow
Like Comment 6 likes
Add your comment
Popular
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 10/41
Franci HoffmanRetired Insurance Professional
Very insightful and well written article, Barry. Common sense and beingresourceful will be your best friends as you go through life. I saw thisstatement a while ago can't remember where. Common sense is not socommon and I believe in many cases, this is true.
Like(4) Reply 12 days ago
Phillip Louis D' Amato RCS, Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr, Lori Boxer /Weight Loss, +1
Show More
Enjoying this content?Stay informed on the content relevant to your industry and interests.
Follow United Kingdom
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 11/41
Plunging earlystage deals, and a talent exodus:2016 is a rollercoaster year for startupsApr 14, 2016 114,802 views 254 Likes 37 Comments
Silicon Valley is losing its edge as the place to locate your tech startup in the US,
Tatjana de KerrosAuthor, Researcher & Strategist in Entrepreneurship and Venture Lifecycles Follow
How Are You At Dealing WithDifficulties & Messes?Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM...
Plunging earlystage deals, anda talent exodus: 2016 is arollercoaster year for startupsTatjana de Kerros
Yahoo: A Cautionary Tale ofMistaking Tech for Brand andVisionDavid Sable
Interviewing is F*ckedScott Case
Pulse Publish a post
Home Profile My Network Jobs Interests Business Services Advanced 111
2Search for people, jobs, companies, and more...
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 12/41
and the best city to ensure you’ll be able to raise capital – in favor of other US
innovationhubs.
Mattermark has crunched data on 583 earlystage investments that have taken
place so far this year across the US, to find that the techbubble is far from over
and has had repercussions across America’s favorite startup hubs.
So far, 2016 has been a rollercoaster ride for earlystage startups seeking equity
financing. Plunging valuations, failed acquisitions, no notable IPOs to speak of,
and scandal’s hitting America’s startup darlings for the moment, the era of the
unicorn is on hold until further notice.
According to PWC, VC funding slowed in the 4th quarter of 2015 by 32% from the
previous quarter. Mattermark analysis for the 1st quarter of earlystage
investments shows that across the US, deals have tumbled by a further 5% across
the board. And the fall from grace of Silicon Valleybased startups seems to be the
reason with the Bay Area seeing a 20% decline in earlystage deals. If we were to
strip the Bay Area from all US earlystage deal data, investments would actually
have gone up by 6%.
But Silicon Valley is not the only area to see a crunch in earlystage deals. Austin
Trump is wrong aboutunemployment, but he's not theonly oneZachary Karabell
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 13/41
saw investments plunge by 63.5%, Salt Lake City by 81.6%, Washington by 46.2%
and Boulder by 40.9%. This signifies not only bearish behavior among VCs, but a
clear drop in the quality of startups seeking earlystage financing.
In parallel, angel and seed funding across the US have been impacted, declining
by 5.6% 2015. But most notable seems to be the era of overvaluations and over
confidence starting to winddown. Series B startups took the biggest hit, with
deals shrinking by over 10%. Only Series A rounds seem to have escaped from this
downwards spiral, increasing by a very unnoteworthy 1.2%.
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 14/41
Despite the doom and gloom this data shows for Silicon Valley, it has not lost grip
of its earlystage financing supremacy. By seeing more than $1.7 billion in deals
this year so far, the Bay Area continues to see more deals than Boston and New
York combined. Even emerging hubs in the US who saw increases in deal volumes
such as Portland (674.5%), St Louis (327%) and Dallas (146%) are just a drop in
the ocean considering that the total deal amount is in single and doubledigit
millions.
However, albeit the small size of these emerging startup hubs, deal sizes in these
cities are getting bigger, and are starting to close second and thirdround of
financing with local investors. Previously, these startups would have had to
relocate to Silicon Valley to even dream of getting Series A and B rounds.
What does this mean for Silicon Valley? Fewer startups see the need to relocate to
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 15/41
Report this
Written byTatjana de Kerros
America’s tech startup hub as they grow, and will consider moving to lower cost,
lowerdensity areas with a more personalized entrepreneurial and ecosystem
infrastructure. Silicon Valley has already started to see a talent exodus, and that is
only set to increase.
What’s the deal for VC’s? Although the shots haven’t been fully called on the tech
bubble, VC’s in the US’s tech strongholds may see a decrease in the stock of
quality startups and demand for deals, as startups will favor local sources of
earlystage capital.
Tatjana de KerrosBudkov is the author of “The Startup Illusion" the blog that
believes that entrepreneurship is more than just a buzzword.
Featured In Technology, Entrepreneurship, VC & Private Equity, Editor's Picks
Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, StartUps
Follow
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 16/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 17/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 18/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 19/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 20/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 21/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 22/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 23/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 24/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 25/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 26/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 27/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 28/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 29/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 30/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 31/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 32/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 33/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 34/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 35/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 36/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 37/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 38/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 39/41
4/15/2016 How Are You At Dealing With Difficulties & Messes? | Barry D'Souza FRSA FInsLM CMgr | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/howyoudealingdifficultiesmessesbarryj 40/41