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

by Ozan Varol

In constructing a model of how an adversary thinks, you must be as objective and fair as possible. Avoid the instinct to caricature the opposing position, making it easier to debunk—a tactic called the straw man. For example, a political candidate advocates increased regulation on greenhouses gases from cars. Another candidate responds that cars are essential for people to get to work and that the proposal will destroy the economy. The argument is a straw man because the proposal calls for increased regulation—not elimination of cars—but it’s far simpler to rebut the more extreme version of the idea. Instead of using a straw man tactic, engage in its opposite, the steel man. This approach requires you to find and articulate the strongest, not the weakest, form of the opposition’s argument. Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is a major proponent of this idea. “You’re not entitled to take a view,” he cautions, “unless and until you can argue better against that view than the smartest guy who holds that opposite view.”61