The Best Tool Is the One You Already Own

I had to clear dry snow off a row of cars, and the scraper was the wrong tool for the job. So I grabbed the leaf blower. It worked better than anything I'd have bought.

There's a reflex, when you hit a problem, to go buy the solution. A snow rake, a fancy scraper, some gadget with a hook and a handle. Most of the time the thing you need is already in the garage — it's just labeled for a different job.

A leaf blower moves air. Dry snow is light. That's the whole insight, and it took ten seconds. The rest is just the willingness to look at a tool and ask what else it can do.

This is the same move that matters at work. The new platform, the new hire, the new tool — they're rarely the fix. The fix is usually something you already have, applied differently. The trick is being willing to see the leaf blower in the snow.

The field-notes version is on WanderingCTO.

Think this argument fits your event? Tell me about the room — the calendar is selective.