Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life

by Ozan Varol

First-principles thinking, as Dumas’s answer implies, often has an inverse relationship to expertise. Unlike the insiders, whose identity or salary can depend on the existing state of affairs, outsiders have no stake in the status quo. Conventional wisdom is easier to tune out when you’re not smothered by it.