I once asked a pro basketball coach, who was at the time coaching in Spain, an insightful question aimed to help American players who were trying to play ball overseas.
“With all these available players out there, coach, how do you decide whom to sign to play for your team?”
You’d think the coach would say he looked for the player with the most talent, the most skilled player, or the one with the most proven resume.
But he said something different.
“We look for the player who can ‘solve the problems'. That's the player we need.”
The coach went on to explain that each season, he would assess the team he had before making their import signings (read: players who aren’t natives of the country he’s working in).
Seeing the biggest areas of need for his club, the coach would look for the American player who best filled the gaps in the roster.
The player who best solved the problems got the job.

***

Having skill is great, and it’s a requirement for anyone who wants to get paid for their work.
But skill alone isn’t enough.
You need to figure out where and how your abilities fulfill someone’s needs — or, how to position your abilities as the answer to someone’s needs.
If I’m the coach, I don’t just want a talented player — I want the talented player who can do all the things that no one else on my team can do. The player who solves my problems.
You may be a great personal trainer, for example -- the best in town. But if my toilet isn't flushing, your 30-day booty blast program doesn’t solve my problem.
Look at your skills and ask yourself:
What problem am I solving?
For whom?
How am I solving it?
Do the people I solve problems for even know that they have a problem?
Also, keep in mind: we are much more apt to respond to the removal of a thing we don’t want than we are to jump at the addition of something we do want.
We care more about eliminating a bad thing than we do about gaining a good thing.

Find problems. Solve them.

There’s a new episode of the Work On Your Game Podcast coming in a couple of weeks about “Solving The Problems” to go along with these:
#1049: There Are No Unsolvable Problems
#767: How To Promote Yourself By Solving Problems
#471: Your ONLY Job In Life: Solve Problems (And Charge For It)
#541: Problem-Solving: Going to The Source Of A Situation
#329: "Looking Into It" Won't Solve Anything
#1049: There Are No Unsolvable Problems

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