Sudoku puzzles and problem solving in leadership roles
I do sudoku. I have a system. I go across and then down. I look to complete a line rather than a box. It works. It gets me there.
But with experience comes a shift. Sometimes a box stands out. It looks easier. More obvious. More generous. Crack that box and suddenly the rest of the puzzle starts to move. One small win opens up the grid.
That’s not a bad way to think about leadership.
Most senior managers have a preferred way of solving problems. It’s often structured, logical, and well-practised. Start with the strategy. Then the structure. Then the people. Then the culture. Work across the organisation line by line. It feels thorough. It feels professional. It is also slow.
Because real organisations are not neat grids. They are messy, political, and uneven. Some parts are resistant. Others are open. And yet we stick with what worked before.
Experience should tell us something else. Where you start matters more than how you proceed.
When a new leader arrives the instinct is to go big. Announce a restructure. Talk about culture change. Signal an efficiency drive. All the right words in roughly the right order. The problem is that restructuring takes longer than anyone admits and distracts everyone who matters. Culture change is slower still and often ends up as a set of values on a poster.
Meanwhile, nothing much improves.
The better approach is more selective. Find the box that will give up its numbers first. Look for the quick win. Not a token gesture but something visible, meaningful, and hard to ignore. Something that creates momentum and, just as importantly, buys goodwill.
I worked for a Chief Executive who understood this. Within weeks he increased senior managers’ pay. Condition: accept a new contract and revised job description. Titles upgraded. Assistant Directors became Directors. Directors became Executive Directors.
We were not naïve. We knew there is no such thing as a free lunch. But we still liked it. The extra money helped. The new title definitely helped. It felt like progress. It felt like recognition.
More importantly, it changed our mood.
We were more open to what came next. And what came next was not small. A significant management restructuring followed. Fewer posts. Broader spans of control. Tougher decisions. The kind of changes that usually meet resistance.
This time they didn’t. Not in the same way.
That first move had done its job. It signalled intent from the top. It created direction. It made us participants rather than obstacles. One box solved, and suddenly the rest of the puzzle looked different.
None of this replaces the need for strategy, structure, or culture. But it does suggest a different starting point.
Don’t begin where the textbook tells you. Begin where you can make something happen.
Complete the easy box first. That’s how you earn the right to make the hard moves later.
