Honestly, I was completely useless until I joined a consulting firm.
Even when given a theme outside my expertise, I didn't know how to research or where to start. I thought that was normal. So, I was shocked to see everyone else handling it calmly. "I can't move because it's outside my expertise" (almost) never happens.
For example, themes like these are common:
- In the logistics industry's "2024 problem," where should we break the structure where the burden is concentrated on the layer with the weakest bargaining power among shippers, primary contractors, and subcontractors?
- As offshore wind power moves from floating demonstration to commercialization, in what order should we resolve the three-way deadlock between fishing rights holders, local governments, and grid connection capacity?
- While renewing the core systems of regional banks, how should we reallocate the post-merger branch network and personnel as the main bank function hollows out due to the generational shift of depositors?
- In reducing food loss for food manufacturers, how do we solve the coordination problem where the "one-third rule" among manufacturing, wholesale, and retail distorts supply and demand forecasts, and acting alone only results in inventory risk?
These are not connected to my expertise at all. Yet, once a person is assigned, they are moving forward by the following week. At first, I wondered how they could perform such a feat.
Once you get used to it, it's an incredibly useful skill. You can move things even if you're not an expert. You look like someone who can do anything (though in reality, there are many things we can't do).
The secret is just these 4 steps. They are so obvious you'll think "I know that." The real trouble is the fact that most people stop even if they know them.
How to proceed when you don't know how to proceed
STEP 1 | Verbalize the "Unknown"
Saying "I don't understand anything" is a sign of mental paralysis.
In reality, it's rare to understand absolutely nothing. Is the goal unclear? The scope? The procedure? The content of the unknown can always be decomposed.
First, extract "what is unknown" into items. Vague anxiety stays large as long as you hold it. The moment you verbalize it into items, anxiety turns into a "task to be filled."
STEP 2 | Hypothesize within the known range
Don't wait for all information to be gathered.
Place a temporary answer like "It's probably this" using only the materials at hand. Draw a picture of the current state and the goal. If you wait for perfect premises, you'll never start.
However, your hands will stop if it's only in your head. There are too many unknowns to form a hypothesis. Go out and test things. As shown in the figure below, if you increase your repertoire of how to research and ask, you won't get stuck here.
Research and asking methods are divided into 4 directions. The trick is to combine them, not rely on just one.
❶ Borrow people and knowledge
- Ask internal experts or knowledgeable people (go with a hypothesis)
- Bounce ideas off your boss
- Confirm directly with customers
- Consult external experts or advisors
- Search internal knowledge or past documents
(Note for ❶: You are the lead. "Dumping it on others and waiting for instructions" is completely different.)
❷ Hit information sources
- Use AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.)
- Read industry reports
- Check government and statistical data
- Find practitioner posts on specialized media or SNS
- Refer to professional books, papers, or collections
❸ Capture primary information
- Visit the client's site and observe
- Set up interviews with users or staff
- Actually try competitor services
- Attend industry events and exhibitions
❹ Think structurally
- Apply to frameworks
- Decompose points with logic trees
- Analogize by comparing with similar or past cases
Using AI, talking to your boss, or visiting the site are all the same "movement to fill the hypothesis."
STEP 3 | Move yourself starting from the hypothesis
The key is not to get an answer, but to go and verify the hypothesis.
Instead of "How should I move?", change it to "It's probably like this, so I'll move like this. Please just confirm this part." The former is waiting for orders; the latter is verification. The reception is completely different.
You don't need to carry everything yourself. Use AI, desk research, or follow leads to experts through your boss. The movement of "going to get" information is this step.
STEP 4 | Improve accuracy while moving
Don't wait for perfection; move small and fix. Action brings the next piece of information.
A draft is fine at first. If you put it out, the other party will say "This is wrong" or "This is right." If you fill that gap, accuracy improves on its own.
As you proceed, some information will be impossible to get. In that case, decide how to proceed without it and course-correct. For example, "Since there's no data for the same scale in manufacturing, we'll substitute by strengthening the banking industry data with a similar structure." Instead of stopping, switch to another route.
Applying to specific scenes
Since abstract theory is hard to grasp, let's use a common situation.
"At the end of a meeting, you're told to look up other companies' cases by next week."
Good example / Bad example
The Bad example: Stops because they don't know what to do. Starts researching aimlessly. Gets lost. Stays stopped and eventually gets scolded.
The Good example: Starts by writing down "what is unknown." Purpose? Scope? Procedure? Structure? Then hypothesize. "If the goal is cost reduction, they probably want to know the measures, not just cases." "They might be interested in other industries, not just the same one."
Then go get it yourself, and course-correct if info is unavailable. The difference in whether you can proceed with the same request is not ability, but whether you followed this order.
The difficulty is not knowledge, but the initial movement
You probably thought "That's obvious." Exactly. There's nothing new in the 4 steps. Yet many people stop because the stumbling block isn't at the knowledge layer.
There are roughly 3 reasons.
First: "Unknown" comes as one big lump at first. Tasks after decomposition are small, but the lump before splitting looks huge. Most people stop before STEP 1. They aren't ignorant; they are defeated by the weight of the lump before splitting it.
Second: The belief that "it's correct to move after understanding." Gathering info before deciding looks like a sincere, cautious attitude. So "waiting" is justified. The 4 steps reverse this order. Move, then understand. Since this is about overwriting a default setting you believe is correct, it's hard to start even if you know it.
Third: There are "know but don't do" traps in each step. Hypotheses are scary to state because you might be wrong. Questions are hard to ask because you fear exposing ignorance without a hypothesis. Drafts are held until perfect because you don't want to show incompleteness. None of these are about ability; they are about fear.
Conversely, you don't need talent to overcome this. Split the lump, place it without waiting, put it out incomplete. Just by getting used to these three, the time you spend stopped will almost disappear.
You don't stop on unknown themes because you "don't know." It's because you haven't split the unknown yet. Expertise comes later while running the 4 steps. This is the "way into the unknown" that works even if the industry changes.
Next time your hands stop, just remember this order.
- Verbalize the unknown (split what is unknown into items)
- Hypothesize within the known range (place "It's probably this")
- Move yourself starting from the hypothesis (don't get answers, go verify)
- Improve accuracy while moving (put out a draft and fill the gap)
Now, think of one project you are currently stuck on. For that one, write down just 3 things for STEP 1: "What is unknown." That is the smallest and surest first step.
If you can't write 3 things well, it's a sign the lump is still too big. In that case, open this article again.
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