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

by Ozan Varol

Consider the case of another monster’s awakening. When Adolf Hitler came to power, the German constitution was one of the “most sophisticated” of its day.11 It contained two seemingly harmless provisions. One provision allowed the German president to declare a state of emergency—a declaration that the parliament could cancel by a simple majority vote. The other allowed the president to dissolve the parliament and call for new elections. German parliaments had a habit of fragmenting and deadlocking, so this second provision was intended to check against that problem. Although they seemed benevolent when viewed in isolation, these two provisions turned malevolent in combination, producing what constitutional law scholar Kim Lane Scheppele calls a “Frankenstate.” In the early 1930s, President Paul von Hindenburg invoked his constitutional power to dissolve a hopelessly deadlocked parliament. Before elections were held to elect a new parliament, Hindenburg issued a state of emergency at the urging of Chancellor Hitler. The declaration suspended almost all civil liberties in Germany. Although the parliament had the constitutional power to override the emergency decree, there was no legislature in place to invoke that power.12 Schutzstaffel (SS) and Sturmabteilung (SA) agents immediately began a widespread cleansing of all opponents of the Nazi cause. Using the state of emergency as a pretext, the Nazis began to consolidate control and establish a one-party dictatorship with Hit...