Page 5 - iNET magazine.June.2021

The Case of Barbie’s

Missing Earring:

What a Childhood

Mystery Taught Me

About Problem Solving

By Diana Hooker

lang! Clang! Clang! Was the sound as I walked apparently fallen out of Barbie’s ear when Carla had
up the metal steps of my relative’s home that I left earlier that day. Even though the metal staircase
Cwas visiting for the week. Earlier that day, I had was not like the hidden staircase in my mystery book,
sat at the top of the stairs with my new friend, Carla. it had played a crucial role in my first case.
She was a year older than me and lived next door. She Little did I know at nine years old that this would be
had excitedly shown me her new Glamour Barbie doll the beginning of my problem-solving career. Not as
with removeable earrings which she had just received a P.I. or a police detective but as an accountant, a tax
for her tenth birthday. I remembered thinking Carla preparer and a business results coach. Since then, I
was so cool and lucky to have such a beautiful Barbie have often utilized the lessons I learned that day to
doll. All of my toys had been lost or destroyed by a help solve my client’s biggest mysteries.
flood six months earlier.

Clang! Clang! Bang! Bang! Carla had stomped up the Lesson One – The obvious answer is not always
metal staircase and pounded on the door. Her face the correct answer. I appeared to be the clear culprit
was streaked with tears as she held up her Barbie doll for stealing the earring because I had no toys and I
with a missing earring. She accused me of stealing it was jealous, but the reality was that the earring had
because I was jealous. I was shocked and hurt that fallen from the doll’s ear accidentally–a solution that
she would think I would do such a thing. Regardless, Carla would not have discovered if she’d refused to
being inspired by the Nancy Drew mystery books I’d consider other possibilities.
read, I grabbed a notepad, a pencil, and a magnifying In business and in life, it’s easy to get trapped in the
glass to help investigate the case of Barbie’s missing maze of what seems like obvious answers, but these
earring. can lead to dead-ends. Exploring options outside the
I examined the doll and found no evidence of foul play. box is important to ensure we are doing what is right
I asked Carla when was the last time she had seen the and what is best. I kept this in mind when I first started
earring. “With you!” she exclaimed. I knew I had not working with my client, Ken. He told me his goal was
taken it so I crossed myself off the list of suspects. to get organized and get more accomplished during
I remained calm and asked her to retrace her steps his day. What was apparent was true, but beyond
from that last moment. As we proceeded down the the clutter on his desk and the non-productive times
stairs, I noticed something reflecting in the sunlight on in his day was the real answer. He needed to follow
the bottom step. It was the tiny missing earring. It had his passion. If we had just organized his desk and

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