Sometimes, you can do more with less. 

 

That is the central message of the book, Stretch, by Dr. Scott Sonenshine – a Professor of Management at Rice University. In this book, Sonenshine pushes back against our felt need for “more.” More time. More tools. More money. More information. Sonenshine’s research shows that, when we stock up on these things, we end up with an overload of options that clogs our productivity. What we need to lead productive lives is not to chase down more resources, but rather to do more with what we already have. 

 

This truth becomes starkly apparent when we are faced with complex challenges. Sonenshine cites a study from the Harvard Business School in which biology experts outperformed chemistry experts at solving chemistry problems. “Scientists outside a specific field had different, and ultimately better, ways of approaching a problem than the experts.”

 

His explanation? Experts come with a “significant liability – they become…cognitively entrenched, blinded to using resources in ways that depart from their conventions. As people gain expertise, they fall back on ways they’ve already learned to do things…” In other words, experts can struggle to find solutions to complex problems because they have a hard time thinking outside the box. They are equipped with far more resources than non-experts, but they are so entrenched in their problem-solving methods that they are unable to take stock of the effectiveness of those methods. 

 

Perhaps this has been true of the scientists at the NIH and CDC over the last couple years. In their embracing of new genetic technology, perhaps they have developed stagnant problem-solving methods for C19 and are unable to see the value of other options.

 

Bottom line: the ability to solve complex problems is not just the result of sophisticated information but, more importantly, is found in the freedom to think about things in a different way.