Dr. No - 5 Mental Models Every GC Should Master to Solve All Problems

“It is not that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.” – G.K. Chesterton

Rosa and I love discussing ideas that challenge the way we think. Today, let’s explore mental models that can supercharge how you and your team tackle problems. We’ll borrow from the incredible book Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann, endorsed by industry titans like Bill Gates and Reid Hoffman. (You can find the book here.)

3 Next-Level Mental Models Every GC Should Steal

✅ Inversion Thinking
Want to be more innovative? Stop asking what you should do. Instead, ask: “How would we screw this up?”

Example: You want to speed up contract turnaround times. What would make it worse? A clunky approval process? Bottlenecks with external counsel? By flipping the problem upside down, you’ll uncover hidden solutions.

👉 Mantra: Be the anti-failure architect.

✅ Second-Order Thinking
Great decisions aren’t about the first move. They’re about the side effects.

Example: Outsourcing low-value work seems like a win (first-order thinking). But what happens when the team loses visibility over workflows and internal client trust erodes? That’s second-order thinking—anticipating the next move.

👉 Mantra: Always ask, “And then what?”

✅ Ockham’s Razor
The simplest explanation is usually the right one.

Example: The CFO rejects your budget for a new legal ops tool. Are they sabotaging your plans? Probably not. Maybe the ROI wasn’t clear enough. Keep it simple, compelling, and impossible to ignore.

👉 Mantra: Stop overcomplicating.

2 Bolder Mental Models for True Strategists

✅ Chesterton’s Fence
Before changing a system, understand why it exists in the first place.

Example: Your approval workflows look outdated. Before tearing them down, ask: Was this designed to prevent a nightmare scenario we’re not seeing? Sometimes those fences are there for a reason.

👉 Mantra: Don’t move fences until you know why they were built.

✅ The Barbell Strategy
Take extreme positions to balance risk and opportunity.

Example: Instead of splitting focus across everything (the death of innovation), go bold: automate the low-value tasks and double down on high-value strategic projects. The mushy middle is where innovation goes to die.

👉 Mantra: Be bold at both ends.

AI Productivity Boosters:

✅ Draft: Use AI to manage your to-do list and calendar by prioritizing what truly matters. Simplify your workload and focus on what moves the needle.

✅ Parafact: Fact-check any human or AI-written text in real-time using reliable sources. Perfect for ensuring your arguments or memos are rock-solid.

One Final Thought:
We often undervalue things until we experience their absence:

• Health is underestimated until illness strikes.

• Wealth is undervalued until poverty hits.

• Kindness isn’t cherished until we face cruelty.

What might you be undervaluing right now?

That’s it for this week. If any of this sparked new ideas or you have insights to share, we’d love to hear from you. Just hit reply.

Best,

Rosa & Manuel