The wrong joint

I was setting up an office chair. The upper part just wouldn’t fit into the lower part. I had help from the guy who delivered it. We were both trying to figure it out.

I held it up while he tried to turn something, screw that. Then he held it, and I tried everything I could too. At some point, he picked up his phone to check if we could find a guide for this particular type of chair online.

I made a video and sent it to the vendor. He replied saying he would only be able to check it in 30 minutes. We continued.

We were both determined to find a solution. I was even impressed that the delivery guy cared as much as I did.

Then we realized: all the fit, turn, and twist we had done for over 30 minutes had been with the wrong joint. Staring at us, dumb and obvious, was the right point to join the parts. The chair was up in 5 seconds.

It reminded me of the stories of innovators who were trying to make horses run faster when the world needed cars, or those who toiled to improve bloodletting techniques when the real answer was to kill the germs. They didn’t even see the germs.

Sometimes, it’s not about more hard work or smarter effort. It’s about a new direction—one that might have been staring at you the whole time.