SECRET 12
Approach Problems with a Blank Mind
We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind, which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations.
—“THE ADVENTURE OF THE CARDBOARD BOX”
Predictable football teams rarely win championships because their opponents can easily figure out their game plan. Directors who make predictable movies with clichéd plots don’t often win Academy Awards because everyone knows how the movie will end five minutes after it starts. Every day we’re told that to succeed in business, sports, or the arts, we have to be unpredictable—original, unique, daring. It’s true. But here’s the paradox: The key to being original and unique is to implement a predictable, methodical strategy to achieve our goals.
One of the main reasons Sherlock Holmes was so successful was that he always approached problems in the same way. He came to each case with a blank, or open, mind—that is, he came to the case with no preconceived notions, no hunch as to who was guilty or not guilty, no predilection toward a certain kind of outcome. Indeed, Holmes enjoyed uncertainty and surprise. He was never happier than when a case suddenly took a dramatic turn and pulled him into unknown territory.
Holmes’s blank-mind approach was no doubt influenced by Conan Doyle’s rigorous medical training at the University of Edinburgh, where the scientific method was paramount. As one early-twentieth-century scientist put it, “The scientific method insists that the student approach a problem with open mind, that he accept the facts as they really exist, that he be satisfied with no half-way solution, and that, having found the truth, he follow it whithersoever it leads.”
Conan Doyle made sure that Holmes adhered rigorously to the scientific method, so much so that his stories, while entertaining, are somewhat predictable in their structure. Over and over again he used this systematic approach, like pressing a cookie cutter into fresh dough. Check out the stories yourself and see if you can spot the pattern:
1. The client is welcomed into Holmes’s office and asked to recite the facts as clearly as he or she can.
2. Holmes listens intently, interrupting only to ask a clarifying question. He makes very few editorial comments or judgments about the client.
3. When the client is finished, Holmes makes a decision about whether to take the case based on the facts presented (luckily for the reader, he almost always takes the case).
In other words, mysteries are presented to Holmes in much the same way that medical cases were presented to Conan Doyle the physician. Like a doctor, Holmes does not pass judgment on his “patients,” regardless of what they might have done to put themselves in their present predicament. What good would judging them do? It would only antagonize them and make them less likely to cooperate. The important thing is to focus on the facts so that the proper remedy can be applied.
Before pilots fly their planes, they must walk around them and complete a preflight check, a routine set of inspections. The preflight check never changes. It’s a consistent way of making sure everything’s in working order before the plane ever leaves the ground. Holmes was smart enough to realize that to succeed as an unconventional entrepreneur (the world’s only consulting detective), he needed a similar solid, well-thought-out plan of action. Ironically, his methodical, step-by-step approach gave him the firm foundation from which he could improvise and test out his radical new ideas about solving crimes. Regardless of how “out there” he got when tracking down a murderer, he never strayed from the boundaries of his preestablished plan.
Preparing yourself to deal with a problem is often the most important part of the problem-solving process. Don’t wade into the middle of something until you’ve adopted a Holmesian sense of detachment and objectivity. Walk in with an open mind, and you’ll be ready to start filling it with facts, not emotions.