When I was at Amazon, a new Principal Engineer joined us and, within a few weeks, came up with a problem statement and a pretty robust design that solves it.
At an all-hands (a small setup), we asked him how he came up with the problem statement and design in such a short time. His answer was interesting…
He said he had solved this exact problem twice before at his previous jobs. This was his third time :)
That is when it clicked for all of us that, at senior leadership levels, you are hired to make an impact, not just to think hard in real time. You have an edge if you have solved a similar problem before, and companies hire you to do it again.
From the company’s perspective, the goal is simple: hire someone who has already solved the problem once, so they can solve it again with fewer mistakes and much greater velocity.
Instead of looking for a new problem to solve every time, if you are comfortable solving one hard problem several times, there is insane money to be made.
Hope this helps :)