Have you ever heard the saying, "Invert, always invert."?
To, “Always invert,” is magnificent advice that comes to us from the German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi. The statement was largely popularized by Charlie Munger. If you don't know who Jacobi is, you're not alone. If you don't know who Munger is, he's best friends, and business partners, with Warren Buffett.
This
is such an important concept. So often we quickly make up our minds
and then hold firm. Everyone has a shortage of time and few of us can
sit around and debate things for very long. It really becomes a
matter of priorities and necessity.
But
life is so wonderfully complex that following common sense can
sometimes get us in trouble. This is why Jacobi's advice is a great
thing to have in the forefront of our minds. Whenever someone makes a
statement, or a claim, I always try to ask myself, “What if the
opposite were true.” The person making the claim might be exactly
correct. But this little exercise helps me develop perspective.
We've
probably all heard it said that great attorneys can argue both sides
of a case. And for good reason. It's an excellent example of,
“Invert, always invert.” When you can effectively make the other
side's argument you are in a much better position to make your own
case. When you understand the other person's perspective, you run
less of a chance of stumbling on blind spots. I'm a big fan of common
sense. The problem is that common sense often contains MANY blind
spots.
Lots of us have been influenced by the work of the late Stephen Covey.
When dealing with a communication breakdown Covey would often
introduce a device he called the Indian Talking Stick. By Indian,
Covey was talking about native Americans, and he says they taught the
technique to the Founding Fathers of America. Covey called the
talking stick, “The most powerful communication idea and technique
I have ever found. Ever.”
Let's
use a married couple as an example. When a husband and wife have
reached a point where they have a hard time communicating, a
facilitator might use Covey's stick. It goes like this. The wife is
first given the stick. She then beats the husband, with the stick,
until he opens up and starts talking with her. Just kidding.
Actually,
it goes like this. The person with the stick is the only one
permitted to talk. Let's again say it's the wife. In order for the
stick to be transferred to the husband, he must first repeat back the
meaning of his wife's words, until she is satisfied that he
understands her. The process continues with the husband holding on to
the stick until he is comfortable that his wife hears him. It's a
great device to use. And it contains a paradox of sorts. Covey says
most people think the talking stick will take too much time. When, in
reality, it will save you tons of time. The paradox here would be,
“Slow down to speed up.”
If
you understand the nature of paradoxes, you'll understand why it's
great advice to always invert. The fact of the matter is, two ideas
can be seemingly contradictory and yet both be true! I wrote about
paradoxes in this post: This is Fundamental to Your Life
One way to stave off a communication breakdown is to always consider that you may be wrong. (GASP!) I know, that might sound crazy, but it's a good idea. And one way to gain perspective on your thoughts is to invert, always invert. You can do this everywhere. If you like reading books, let me give you couple of examples.
Everybody
has probably heard of the popular book Who
Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson. But have you ever heard of the book Nobody
Moved You Cheese
by Ross Shafer? Why not read both books and then try to draw your own
conclusions?
A
few years ago Tom Friedman wrote a very influential book titled The
World is Flat.
The book's central premise is quite interesting. But before we jump
to the conclusion that Friedman is correct, we might want to read the
book Who's
Your City
by Richard Florida.
I
am a big fan of a gentleman named Jim Collins. Jim has written some
important books, none the least of which is called Good
To Great.
A lot of people are on the
Collins bandwagon. And very few people have even heard of a book
called The Halo Effect,
written by Phil
Rosenzweig, which directly contradicts Collins' work.
Realistically
not too many people are going to read all those books. And that's
fine. The point is to reiterate that we should invert, always
invert. Shakespeare famously said, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking making it so." I think that's Shakespeare's perspective on the importance of perspective. And, I believe, the device, "Invert, always invert," is a magnificent way to develop perspective.
