ESSENTIALS MANAGEMENT Let’s say your goal is to increase revenue, and you’re running into a roadblock where you can’t get above a 2% clickthrough rate on an ad, for instance. You might ask: How much do we make per click? Why? The answer is probably, “That’s just how it is.” So then you could ask: What would it take for someone to pay more? Maybe the answer is more expensive inventory. Okay, then how do we make that happen? If no one has any immediate ideas and all you’re hearing is crickets, you have the option to open the box very slowly and carefully. You can drop a breadcrumb to lead the team to a next conclusion they can use as a jumping off point — a hint that doesn’t give away what you think they should do. But the more breadcrumbs you drop, the narrower their thinking will become, so you have to be careful and thoughtful about what you reveal. Having too many ideas in a room is an entirely different — and much better — problem. Still, it can stymie some teams. When this happens, ask questions about probability and make a matrix (one of the few times it’s acceptable for you to whiteboard as a manager). What is the likelihood of success for each of the ideas proposed? Let your team discuss and stack rank proposals based on their probability of working. Groupthink will work to your advantage. Aggregate solutions are usually pretty good in these cases. No matter what, whether there are too many ideas or too few, never supply your own opinion, judgment or ideas prematurely as a manager 10