From Unicorns to Underdogs: How cognitive diversity could be the catalyst for making change that matters

Problem-solving is the cornerstone of every successful organisation. It's the pivotal challenge when assembling a team aspiring to transition from an Underdog to a Unicorn. 
 
Businesses are founded on a hunch, a feasible solution to a customer's problem. Along the way, lots of issues must be solved, from effective sales and marketing strategies to product development and compliance, to name just a few. 
 
These problems can be placed on a spectrum from less to more structured. An unstructured problem comes with many unknowns and assumptions, making it difficult to specify the final solution in advance. Such a problem requires agile methods and multiple parallel experiments to discover the structure, boundaries, feasibility, and viability. In contrast, a structured problem often comes with well-defined requirements that you must meet to reach a known solution. 
 
Problems actively move along this spectrum as scaling businesses accumulate more structure. Innovation leads to production, followed by process and policy. 
 
A problem-solving path 
 
The path from Underdog to Unicorn can be defined this way.  
 

• Is it feasible? Can your business solve an identified problem with its available resources and capabilities? A feasible solution is one that is practical, achievable, and aligned with market needs.
   
• Is it repeatable? Can your problem-solving approach be consistently applied across different scenarios and customers, a repeatable solution ensures scalability without compromising effectiveness.
   
• Is it reliable? Can your solution consistently deliver the expected results under varying conditions? A reliable approach builds trust and ensures long-term success in solving pain points. 

Experienced professionals often recognise colleagues who excel in specific problem environments. Some thrive in the uncertainty of a half-baked idea, while others prefer the structure of a well-defined process. The key is identifying where your employees excel and leveraging that to find sustainable solutions and make a change that matters. 
 
Let's use a colonial metaphor to illustrate these problem-solving personalities: 
 
Pioneer 
 
Imagine a racoon-skin-capped pioneer seeking to discover a "new land" and expand the frontier. This adventurer may have a crude map and a compass but not much else. They travel light and fast, relying on intuition to determine the path. Often, they end up nowhere. But sometimes, they discover a "new land". When they do, they celebrate… then get bored and seek the next "new land". 
 
Settler 
 
Fortunately, behind the pioneer follows the settler. When the settler arrives in the "new land," they see the potential. They begin doing essential tasks like tilling the ground, planting crops, and building homes. The settlers are the problem-solvers who want to make the new land productive. 
 
Town Planner 
 
As the settlers expand their community, town planners arrive. These problem-solvers see the opportunity to make the land more efficient and accessible. They laid out streets and built centralised water treatment systems. The town planners want to create a structure that enables the productive land to become populated or even a city. We can imagine this stepwise problem-solving process as a "system of theft". The settlers took the new land from the pioneers and created a repeatable process for producing value. The town planners then take over the new land and turn the repeatable processes into reliable processes. 
 
Most people identify with one of the roles above, which helps to reveal our preference for more or less structure in problem-solving. Understanding this preference can be an enlightening experience, helping individuals grow in their careers and affording them opportunities to flourish. As a result, it can also help startups grow successful teams. So, how do we identify problem-solving preferences? 
 
Tools 
 
The science behind problem-solving preference (or cognitive style) is compelling. In 1976, Dr. Michael Kirton established cognitive style as a critical feature in organisational initiatives, from startups to multinational corporations. KAI theory explains why many organisations struggle from Underdog to Unicorn. Often, problem-solving energy is directed not toward solving the actual problem but toward conflict within the team and between individuals, each having different preferences for structure in problem-solving. One problem-solving preference is not better than another, in general. Each individual brings advantages and disadvantages, given the structure needed to solve the problem. 
 
It's important to note that, unlike our colonial metaphor, KAI is not a typology. Nobody is the archetypical pioneer, settler, or town planner. According to KAI, our problem-solving style exists on a spectrum of adaptive (preferring more structure) to innovative (preferring less structure), but this doesn't limit us. We can solve problems in structured environments (e.g., automotive assembly lines) or very unstructured environments (e.g., responding to a ransomware event) with sufficient motivation and support. However, the further a problem is from our problem-solving style, the more psychological energy it will require. 
 
In practice 
 
Suppose organisations take time to recognise where they need pioneers, settlers, or town planners. In that case, they can solve significant customer problems and create a fulfilling work environment. Only a few organisations achieve this level of role-based problem-solving. However, it may be after many frustrating failures and years of organisational development. This practical application of problem-solving styles can empower your team in their problem-solving approach.  
 
A classic example of this conflict can be found at Apple. Steve Jobs, a pioneer, famously clashed with CEO Michael Scott, a settler. Scott was set on striving to make the land productive, conflicting with the pioneer hyper-focused on a vision of how the world should be. 
 
A decisive step from Underdog to Unicorn can be taken in one afternoon. Familiarise yourself with the Cynefin problem-solving framework and Kirton's Adaption-Innovation Theory. Both have excellent summaries online. 
 
Conclusion 
 
No value is created unless a problem is solved. Therefore, the organisation that can solve problems faster wins. Organisations solve problems faster when they leverage the diversity of their teams' problem-solving styles. By viewing your business through a problem-solving lens, you can help get your "aces in the right places" and accelerate your race to make a change that matters. This approach can lead to a more optimistic outlook on your business's growth and success.