The speaker discusses a crucial difference between the educational system and real-world problem-solving, particularly in business. In schools, students are taught that changing an exam question is considered cheating, even in subjects like humanities. For instance, if asked to describe the 20 years before the Reformation, deviating to discuss the Lollards or an earlier period would be penalized. However, the speaker argues that in business and real life, the opposite is true. Rewriting or redefining the question is not only acceptable but should be encouraged. This is because the initial formulation of a question often represents a lazy approach to a problem, and the very existence of an unsolved problem is frequently due to the fact that the wrong question has been asked all along.

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This is one of the lessons, I think, everybody needs to learn.

Actually, it's something they need to unlearn from their time at school. Because at school, you're taught one of the fundamental implicit rules of any exam question at school is it's not legitimate to change the question. Even in a field like the humanities, if you had a history question which said, "Please describe the the 20 years preceding the Reformation." Okay, and you said, "Actually, I don't think that's very interesting. I'm going to talk about the Lollards or something 100 years earlier." Whatever it might be. That's cheating, right? That's viewed as cheating.

In business, in real life, rewriting the question is not only legitimate, it needs to be encouraged. Because the question is generally a lazy formulation of the problem, but also the very fact that you're defining something as a problem and that it hasn't been solved is most likely explained by the fact that you've been asking the wrong question all along.

The Secret Mind Trick School Called Cheating

This is one of the lessons, I think,
everybody needs to learn. Actually, it's
something they need to unlearn from
their time at school. Because at school,
you're taught one of the fundamental
implicit rules of any exam question at
school is it's not legitimate to change
the question. Even in a field like the
humanities, if you had a history
question which said, "Please describe
the the 20 years preceding the
Reformation." Okay, and you said,
"Actually, I don't think that's very
interesting. I'm going to talk about the
Lollards or something 100 years
earlier." Whatever it might be. That's
cheating, right? That's viewed as
cheating. In business, in real life,
rewriting the question is not only
legitimate, it needs to be encouraged.
Because the question is generally a lazy
formulation of the problem, but also the
very fact that you're defining something
as a problem and that it hasn't been
solved is most likely explained by the
fact that you've been asking the wrong
question all along.

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The Secret Mind Trick School Called Cheating

Transcription