What mental model do you use to tackle problems?
When I approach a challenging decision or situation, I analyze it first from a – if this, then that – “legalistic” (perhaps overly so) framework. I don’t do this by choice. It results from the logic-based instruction that is law school, and which played such an important role in the development of my thinking in my 20s. Later in life, my finance doctorate added an economics-based frameset to my thought process. It reinforced my previous experiences, but added a binary option-type of framework to the approaches I use.
Neither of these mental models are right. At least not in all circumstances. And they aren’t always wrong, either. They are just how I approach challenges. A medical doctor, police office, or historian, all with different experiences and mindsets, might view things very differently, and therefore use a different approach.
The mental model through which you view the world, affects how you approach challenges. Sometimes it will provide an advantage in solving problems. Sometimes it can hinder you.
It is obviously important to understand your own mental model. But when interacting with others, whether in business, on a team, or in an opponent position, it is often just as important to understand how they view the problem at hand. What mental model is shaping their decisions?