Inversion: The Power of Avoiding Stupidity

Inspired by the German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi’s “invert, always invert,” this model is used to solve difficult problems.

We tend to think one way about a problem: forward. 
We are at point A. We want to get to point B. 
How do we get there?

Inversion makes us flip the problem around and think backwards: we start at point B and work backwards to point A. 
What would prevent us from getting there?

Thinking forward, you think about how you can reach the desired outcome.
Thinking backwards, you think about what would prevent you from reaching the desired outcome…so you can avoid it along the way. Avoiding stupidity if you will.

This two-way thinking forces you to uncover hidden beliefs and assumptions about the problem you are trying to solve.

How to use Inversion

Imagine your company introduces a new product – a new type of pillow, for example – and you’re asked to sell 1,000 of them in the next 6 months.

You start as you always do, thinking forward: how can I make this happen?

• Marketing: creating paid advertising campaigns, reaching out to influencers, appearing in magazines or on trade shows
• Sales: creating a landing page on your website, contacting your partner retailers to get the product listed
• Project management: making a timeline with tasks and KPIs

Now, let’s invert and think backwards: what would prevent me from making this happen?

• Production: our (partner) factories cannot produce enough in time, long lead times, faults in production
• Logistics: delays or long lead times in shipping
• Customer service: there is no proper return policy in place, customer support doesn’t know how to handle customer inquiries

There are obviously more, but you get the gist.
If we only thought forward, our project would have failed (or we would have had a much more difficult time) because of the problems discovered with backward thinking.
If we only thought backward, we are not guaranteed to reach our goal, but at least we wouldn’t have made it impossible.

Think forward and backwards, consider different perspectives and improve your understanding of a problem.
Doing so helps you avoid stupid mistakes…which is easier than being a creative genius.