What If “The Problem” Isn’t the problem?
It’s a good place to start the conversation, but not the work.
A monthly TAN session for fractional leaders, boutique consultants, and experienced advisors who want to understand how the problem a client brings them can shape the work before the broader business is understood.
Topic of the Month
Looking Beyond the Presented Problem
This month we will experience what happens when the presented problem becomes the starting point for understanding the business—not defining the work.
27 Oct. 2026, 11:00 AM ET
A CEO or business leader usually starts the conversation with a problem. And that’s a good place to start.
But the problem they see is most likely the problem that’s visible to them.
If the solution gets defined too quickly, the engagement can end up focused on that problem without understanding what else may be happening across the business.
In this session, you’ll experience how TAN members use the CORE diagnostic to help leadership teams look beyond the presented problem, bring different perspectives together, and identify where focused effort can have the greatest business impact.
That shared understanding creates a very different posture when defining and presenting the strategic work you can deliver.
The Presented Problem Can Shape the Work Too Soon.
A client brings a sales problem. A leadership problem. A marketing problem. An operations problem.
It makes sense to start there. They know their business, and something has caused them to reach out for help.
The challenge comes when that problem also starts defining the solution.
The conversation can quickly move toward what needs to be done, what the scope should include, and how you can help.
All before there is a shared understanding of what else may be happening across the business.
In this event, we’ll look at what happens when you slow that process down. You’ll experience how TAN Members bring the perspectives of the leadership team into the conversation and makes important gaps visible before the strategic work is defined.
What Becomes Visible When You Look Beyond the Problem?
This session will explore:
Why the problem a client brings you is a useful place to start the conversation.
How that problem can begin defining the work before enough is understood.
What changes when other members of the leadership team enter the conversation.
How different perspectives can reveal gaps that were not visible at the start.
How CORE creates a shared understanding of where focused effort can have the greatest impact.
How that understanding provides the basis for defining strategic work.
What this changes about your posture when presenting the work you can deliver
What You Will Leave With
A clearer understanding of why the presented problem may not tell you enough to define the work.
A practical look at how CORE expands the conversation beyond one leader’s perspective.
A better understanding of how shared understanding changes the way strategic work gets defined.
A clearer view of the role measured business needs can play in your proposed engagement.
A different way to think about your posture when presenting strategic work.