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

by Ozan Varol

Consider a study by three Harvard Business School professors who gave the participants a difficult ethical challenge.28 The researchers laid out a scenario where the ethical choice wasn’t obvious and divided the study’s participants into groups. To one group, they asked, “What should you do?” To the other group, they asked, “What could you do?” The “should” group zeroed in on the most obvious solutions—often not the best ones—but the “could” group stayed open-minded and generated a broader range of possible approaches. As the researchers explained, “People may often benefit from a could mindset that involves a more expansive exploration of possible solutions before making a final decision.” A different study reached the same conclusion. Participants who were told “Object A could be a dog’s chew toy” as opposed to “Object A is a dog’s chew toy” generated a greater variety of uses for the toy.