Theodore Levitt's 1960 article "Marketing Myopia" is a business classic that earned its author the nickname "the father of modern marketing." It is also a beautiful demonstration of the problem solving skills that are crucial in so many areas of life - in business and beyond. The problem facing Levitt was the same problem that has confronted business after business for hundreds of years: how best to deal with slowing growth and eventual decline. Levitt studied many business empires - the railroads, for instance - that at a certain point simply shrivelled up and shrank to almost nothing. How, he asked, could businesses avoid such failures? His approach and his solution comprise a concise demonstration of high-level problem solving at its best. Good problem solvers first identify what the problem is, then isolate the best methodology for solving it. And, as Levitt
