Not usually, anyway.
What they tell you first is almost always a symptom:
the thing they can see, the thing annoying them right now.
But symptoms don't tell you where to aim.
And if you solve the wrong thing?
You've just wasted their time and yours.
So how do you dig to the real issue?
You ask "why" until it hurts a little.
- Why does that matter to you?
- What's actually causing that to happen?
- If we fixed that, what else would shift?
Each answer peels back a layer.
You're listening for the moment when they pause,
when the answer moves from operational to strategic,
from "this is broken" to "this is costing us something we can't afford."
The root cause lives where the stakes get real.
Keep digging until you find it.