Your country has a trade imbalance.
- Zohar Strinka
- Jun 11
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 24
Global economics is complex with many agents (decision makers) and competing priorities. At times a country or group of countries may see an imbalance in trade. This may seem to increase supply chain risks or economic risks in the case of a future disagreement. In order to ensure the actions you take have the intended effects, it makes sense to take a step back and explore what other options you might have to address your current dilemma. Complex problems are often vague, and that means they have many possible solutions. The meta-problem you get to when you follow this process may be distant from the dilemma that started your quest. A key part of the meta-problem’s value is that it forces you to clarify what you really want and what you are willing to give up. It also enables you to compare objectively the possible pathways and their trade-offs. It prevents you locking into solutions mode too early, and then doubling down on solving a low-yield problem that does not serve your goals as well as the alternatives. At the end of this process, you will have a better understanding of your priorities and how to achieve them.
Step in the meta-problem | Illustrative Example |
Dilemma The high-level issue you are trying to address | Your country has a trade imbalance. |
Goal The changes you would like to make to address the dilemma.
There are usually many options. Selecting the best set comes after you learn what is possible. | Supporting Goals
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Problem Space While goals tell us what we want, our next step is to understand what is holding us back from making progress on them.
This approach is borrowed from calculus as we explore the neighborhood of the current dilemma. | For each goal that you are considering, ask yourself:
Example Problems:
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High-Yield Problems Sometimes solving one problem helps make progress towards several goals. In this step, we identify these “two-for-the-price-of-one” problems. | Which Options Will Advance More Than One Goal?
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Meta-Problem Which of the many possible options in the high-yield problem step is the best set to address the dilemma? | Selection Criteria
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Implement, Learn and Adapt | Observe and learn as you go. New information may reveal itself as you implement your chosen solution, so check continuously that you’re still solving the right problem |