Inversion

Inversion and The Power of Avoiding Stupidity

💡 We all think about what to do. But we rarely think about what not to do. this principle tells us to think in a way not so commonly used. Like to improve efficiency in our organization we can think of ways or processes that can be added to the current workflow to increase productivity. But if we think using inversion, we will think about the things that we should remove or subtract from the current workflow to remove things that make our workflow less productive.

It is not enough to think about difficult problems one way. You need to think about them forward and backward. Inversion often forces you to uncover hidden beliefs about the problem you are trying to solve. “Indeed,” says Munger, “many problems can’t be solved forward.”

Let’s take a look at some examples. Say you want to improve innovation in your organization. Thinking forward, you’d think about all of the things you could do to foster innovation. If you look at the problem by inversion, however, you’d think about all the things you could do that would discourage innovation. Ideally, you’d avoid those things. Sounds simple right? I bet your organization does some of those ‘stupid’ things today.

Another example, rather than think about what makes a good life, you can think about what prescriptions would ensure misery.

Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance.

So what does this mean in practice?

Spending time thinking about the opposite of what you want doesn’t come naturally to most people. And yet many of the smartest people in history, have done this naturally.

Inversion helps improve understanding of the problem. By forcing you to do the work necessary to have an opinion you’re forced to consider different perspectives.