Chapter Content
Okay, so, let's talk about thinking differently. You know, it's something we all kinda strive for, right? To break out of the box and come up with those, like, aha! moments. I was reading about this experiment, really interesting one, done by this professor, Tina Seelig. Basically, she gave her students five bucks. That's it. Five dollars. And she told them, "Alright, you've got two hours to make as much money as humanly possible."
So, of course, a lot of the groups went the, you know, logical route. They thought, "Okay, let's buy something cheap and sell it for more." Or, like, maybe barter. Get some supplies, you know, offer a service. And, sure, they made a little something. Maybe a few dollars back on that initial five.
But then, a couple of groups really thought outside the box. They completely ignored the five dollars. One group, they figured out which restaurants were popular and sold reservations. Another group, they set up shop and pumped up bike tires for a buck each. So, they made a better return, for sure.
But the winning group? They took it to another level. They, get this, they realized the real asset wasn't the five dollars, it wasn't even the two hours. It was the fact that they had presentation time in front of a room full of Stanford students. So, they sold their presentation time to a company that was looking to recruit Stanford students. They got, like, a huge amount of money, I think it was like 650 dollars! So, a massive return.
The thing is, those groups that did poorly, they kinda followed the obvious, you know, logical steps. And they got logical results. But the winning group, they just thought differently. Which brings me to this idea called Socratic questioning, or the Socratic method. Sounds fancy, but it's really just about asking questions, you know? Asking and answering questions to, like, really dig into what you're assuming and how you're thinking.
So, how do you actually *do* this? Well, start with, like, open-ended questions. No yes or no answers. Just things to get you thinking. Then, come up with some ideas, based on those questions, of course. And then? Then you really start digging. Probe those ideas with more and more questions. Keep going until you’ve really developed the best ideas.
Here's how you can use this to think differently. First, really nail down the problem. What are you *actually* trying to solve? Because we often waste time and energy trying to fix the wrong thing. For the students, the *wrong* problem was, "How do I use five dollars to make money?" The *right* problem was, "How do I make the most money, given the time I have?" See the difference?
Next, what's your current thinking? What's your hypothesis? And where did that thinking even come from? Then, open it up to questioning. Why do you think that way? Is it too vague? What's it based on? And this is the really important part. Challenge your assumptions! Why do you believe this is true? How do you *know* it’s true? How would you know if you were wrong? Really get down to the source of your beliefs and, like, seriously question their integrity and validity.
Then, look at the evidence. What concrete evidence do you have to support your thinking? How credible is it? Is there something you're missing? Is there hidden evidence? You know?
And, alright, think about the consequences. What happens if you're wrong? Can you fix it easily? How costly would that mistake be? It’s always good to understand the stakes, you know?
Okay, now, what are the alternatives? What other beliefs or viewpoints are out there? Why might someone else have a *better* idea? What do they know that you don't? Evaluate those ideas on their own merits and ask those same fundamental questions about them.
Finally, after all that zooming in, zoom out. Look back at your original thinking. Were you right? If not, where did you go wrong? What can you learn from this whole process about how you think? Like, in that business school experiment, figuring out the right problem, that was what allowed the winning group to think differently about their assets and come up with something really creative.
Now, this whole Socratic questioning thing? It takes time. You wouldn't use it for every little decision. But when you're facing a big decision, where the rewards could be huge, in your business, in your career, in your life... It's worth doing. It really can help you think differently and find the path that's most likely to get you those, you know, asymmetric, risk-adjusted returns. So, yeah, give it a shot.