The Inversion Principle
Mindful Manager - Issue #50
Have you ever faced a problem so hard, that you didn’t even know where to start tackling it? I have, many times, and there’s a little trick that always came to the rescue: the inversion principle.
It’s a simple thought experiment: instead of stressing about how to achieve a certain outcome, you invert the situation and think about all the possible ways to make it worse. Once you’ve come up with a valid idea, you have a solution: only to do the opposite.
For example, let’s say you’re worried that your career is not heading in the right direction, so you set some time in the weekend to brainstorm about “what should I do to improve my current job?”. Unless you’re an all-star strategic thinker, you’ll feel a little bit lost at the beginning. There are too many options and variables to consider.
Here comes the inversion principle. Try to think about all the behaviours you could start implementing tomorrow, that will make your current job situation worse:
You could avoid any type of human connection at work, except the one strictly needed for your tasks. If you make yourself invisible, there will be high chances of you not being promoted next year.
You could stop learning altogether. Stick only to what you know so far, don’t look online or in books for way to do your job in a more productive or innovative way.
You could stay away from projects and activities that have an significant impact on the company. Focus on the mundane and repetitive tasks only, and mute your microphone if your manager asks for a volunteer on the new project commissioned by the head of the division.
The inversion principle works because of an asymmetry between making something grow, versus destroying it, the latter being way easier than the former. Success can come in many different ways, but failure (in business and life) has so many recurrent traits (thanks to Andrew Wilkinson for an inspiring tweet on this, unfortunately I wasn’t able to find it)
Play around with this concept, the next time you feel blocked. Not all problems need it, but it could save your day when you’re busy with the most difficult ones.