The One Super-Skill Every Professional Must Have

There aren’t many children who go through school and at some point are not taught the scientific method. It’s something we all learn, but the usefulness of the method goes far beyond the scientists who try to find the exact age of the earth or how everything got here. 

The process of the scientific method is one of the best ways to solve any problem. And problem solving is and will be the number one super skill of the 21st Century. If you’re like me and your memory doesn’t always allow you to go back to your grade school days, let’s do a quick refresh of the scientific method and how it can be used to solve any problem. 

Observation

When I interviewed Dennis Bishop on the Start Fast Podcast, he told me about how he first got into entrepreneurship and launched his first product. Whether he knew it or not, he used the scientific method to create a great product. 

Before deciding to create a product and launch a business, Dennis noticed a problem. Like many people, the problem he saw hit close to home. Dennis played college football and spent some time in pro ball as well, playing corner-back. 

During his time playing in the Arena League, Dennis worked as an athletic trainer to help pay the bills. He became fascinated by the science of human performance and what it takes to properly prepare for peak performance as an athlete. 

What Dennis observed was a group of 300 guys, all competing for 5 open spots in the league. The problem he noticed was how most of the guys out there didn’t know what it took to train like a pro in order to have a better opportunity to become one. And it bothered him. How can these amazingly talented professionals not know how to train and prepare themselves the way they should and how could he change that?

Dennis made a great analogy. He said it was like seeing a bunch of guys who wanted to become doctors but there was no medical school to teach them how to become one. That’s when Dennis decided that he would take on the challenge of taking what he knew from playing and what he learned as a trainer, and he would create a platform where he could virtually mentor current and aspiring corner-backs across the country. 

Hypothesis

Humans make observations every day, but rarely do we stop to ask questions about what we observe. But when we see something that bothers us, a problem, sometimes we stop long enough to question whether or not there is a better way or a potential solution that hasn’t been thought of. That’s what Dennis did. 

Dennis played corner-back, and that was the position he knew best. Admittedly, he knew that focusing on one position would limit the impact he could have, but it was also the lowest hanging fruit for him to start with. So, Dennis created a website, which still exists today, called Great-Cornerback.com, which outlined best practices that he learned from playing and training.

He started with the hypothesis that he could give some basic guidance and information to corner-backs and they would take the information and form their own routines and plans around it. So, like any good scientist (or professional), he tested his idea.

Testing/Experimentation

It was around 2010, and Dennis was interested in technology and science. He wasn’t a great student, but he was fascinated by robotics and technology, and he had dreams of working for NASA. So, not being afraid of science, Dennis picked up a book on how to learn HTML and CSS. He knew that he wanted to reach as many young corner-backs as possible, and the internet would be the way to do that. 

After nine months, Dennis was able to launch greatcornerback.com, and he stuck with his original hypothesis. He was betting that all corner-backs needed was the information he had. He figured these athletes were hungry enough and creative enough to figure out what to do with the information. To keep the website alive, Dennis was going to monetize it by selling affiliate products related to his site. 

After launch, Dennis saw a much greater response to the site than he had anticipated. Even though the one position of corner-back, within the entire game of football, is a small niche, there was still a great draw. What Dennis had to do now was find out if his hypothesis was correct. To do that, he looked at the quantitative and qualitative data. 

Data Analysis

The quantitative data told Dennis that there was something to his idea. There was demand for more knowledge on how to better train and prepare for higher-level play at the corner-back position. And as someone who played corner-back in high school, I wish I had access to this information back then, because it really is a hard position. 

The qualitative data told Dennis that his hypothesis was off a bit. He got repeated feedback around how these athletes wanted the information packaged. In a time where workout videos like P90X and Insanity were extremely popular, the market demanded packaged training that led the athlete through a systematic program for preparation. 

Conclusion

Unlike 8th grade science fair, the conclusion isn’t where you stop. In the real world, you take the test, the data, and your conclusion, and you iterate. And that’s exactly what Dennis did. After putting it off until the data was almost overwhelming, he decided to invest the time and effort in packaging his knowledge into an out-of-box training to guide the athlete through their preparation. 

He re-tested the idea by testing a “soft launch” of the updated site with the packaged training material. To his surprise, there was a purchase within minutes of the site going live. Unfortunately, Dennis hadn’t anticipated such a fast response and had to refund the money, because the training package hadn’t been finished yet. However, he had immediate validation around the new approach to solving this problem he found, and he figured out how to make it a business. 

Final Thoughts

The scientific method is a guide that makes the approach to problem solving really simple to understand and apply. Regardless of what role you find yourself in, the ability to identify and solve problems is and will continue to be one of the greatest professional superpowers you can wield. If you want to become a better problem solver, get invested in what you’re doing, identify problems, and use this method to start solving them!

John Fontenot | Product Manager | Startup Founder | Podcast Host |