Episode 239: The Bottom Line - Inversion Thinking

So the big question is this: how do small business owners like us grow our leadership, develop our teams, and scale our business in a way that allows us to get our products and services out to the world yet still remain profitable? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. I'm Bradley Hamner, and this is the Club Capital Leadership Podcast.

Welcome to The Bottom Line, a new weekly podcast series that we drop every Thursday to complement our weekly Monday podcast interviews with the industry leaders. These podcasts are going to be designed to give you short, impactful, and value-driven information that you can start using right away in your business. I value your time and attention and will do my very best not to waste it. Just get what you need and go. So with that, let's get into today's episode.

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Hey, I got a really quick one for for you. So, uh, have you ever heard of this idea that Charlie Munger uses in his investment called inversion thinking? So he basically takes like, well, what would be the worst things that we could do? What's the worst decisions we could make? And then we basically says, well, let's just do the opposite of that. I'm sure it's probably more complicated than that, especially whenever he's got some, uh, dealing with so much money in from an investment perspective. But he's pretty well known for using this. As a matter of fact, he's got a quote, uh, and doing a little bit of research for this, he says, all I want to know is where I'm gonna die so I never go there. He basically kind of reverse engineers off this thing of like, okay, I don't want to do that, so then I'll just do the opposite. I think there's some advantage to this potentially for us in our businesses. I know that there's been times where I'm just stuck, I'm just stuck in the mud, like I cannot figure out what is the right thing to do with this. And it's a mental model that gives me just kind of a different angle, a different path, a different way to kind of come at the exact same thing. And so whenever I'm doing some thinking time, which I'll talk about that in just a second. So if you've not read the book The Road Less Stupid, absolutely my number one favorite book, period. I've learned so much from that book. Um, it's most highlighted, underlined book. I mean, there's so many things that have interwoven into me personally. You probably will pick up on little sayings, um, that I've, I've said on the podcast from that book specifically. But, uh, he, in that, uh, book The Road Less Stupid, talks about the value of thinky time. It's kind of pervasive through the book. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's a big kind of thread that he interweaves through there. And I will use inversion thinking from Charlie Munger sometimes in my thinking time. I'll start off with a question. It goes, okay, well, here's, here's the project. Here's the dilemma that I'm dealing with. What's the, what's the worst decisions I can make in this situation? And so I'll kind of lay that out. What it does, it just kind of gets me out of like, I'm just going down a rat hole and I'm just kind of spinning my wheels. Versus if I think, do the inversion process and go, well, what are the worst things I could do? It's something about doing that. And I can't really explain it unless you just kind of experience it. So if you ever find yourself— to me, this is where I've used it. I can't figure out exactly where I would do it if I wasn't stuck in something. But if ever I'm like, I just don't know what to do with this. I don't know what to do with this problem. Um, yes, I could pick up the phone and call somebody. Sure. And, and there's times to be It's important to be able to do that and the willingness to do that. But there's times that I just need to— I need a different frame. I need to frame the problem a little bit differently. And with my legal pad, I'll do some inversion, write down a few thoughts, and in maybe 10 or 15 minutes or so, it's really helped me. So I just thought I'd share, uh, share all of that with you. I don't know exactly where the concept of inversion thinking kind of got to me specifically, otherwise I would give credit to, uh, that person. But it's been a nice mental model for me to use when I'm actually doing some thinking time. So anyway, quick one for you today. Hope that serves you. If you ever feel stuck, you ever feel like, I just can't make progress on this issue, this team issue, I don't know exactly what to do, then try the inversion thinking. I think it can serve you. All right, everyone, till next episode, lead well.