How Innovators Use First Principle Thinking

Your ability to innovate is often constrained by your thinking frameworks, and not enough people invest time in questioning and enhancing their thinking processes. Interestingly, this practice can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, who were among the first to break down and systematically document their thought processes.

One of the most renowned philosophers, Aristotle, introduced a framework known as "First Principles Thinking," which has continued to influence great minds throughout history.

• Isaac Newton used first principles thinking to develop his theory of relativity.

• Thomas Edison used first principles thinking to develop the first light bulb.

• John Boyd used first principles to develop military strategies.

• Elon Musk used first principle thinking to develop Tesla and SpaceX.

The application of first principles thinking has been at the core of some of the most remarkable innovations in our era. Utilising this framework when confronted can yield substantial and meaningful results.

What is First Principle Thinking?

In simple terms, first principles thinking means breaking down a problem into its basic parts. Then, you examine and question each part individually to come up with a better solution.

Let's look at Elon Musk as an example. In 2002, he wanted to send a rocket to Mars. But when he saw that rockets cost about $65 million each, he was surprised by how expensive it was. So, instead of accepting that cost, he decided to break the problem into its basic parts.

“I tend to approach things from a physics framework,” Musk said in an interview.

“Physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. So I said, okay, let’s look at the first principles. What is a rocket made of? Aerospace-grade aluminium alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fibre. Then I asked, what is the value of those materials on the commodity market? It turned out that the materials cost of a rocket was around two percent of the typical price.”

And so SpaceX was born..

In essence, first principles thinking is like thinking "like a scientist." Scientists don't just accept things as they are; they question and seek evidence to support their ideas.

Are we sure this is true? Where is the evidence?

It's about diving a few levels deeper into a problem, beyond what most people typically do.

Analogy vs First Principle

Most people often solve problems by analogy. This means they make decisions based on their past experiences, emotions, beliefs, and what's commonly considered the right way to do things without really questioning why. But here's the thing: this approach can sometimes lead to not-so-great decisions.

In contrast, first principle thinking involves breaking down a problem into its core components and questioning every assumption you have about it. It's a more scientific approach, where you don't take anything as a truth and seek to understand the problem at its most fundamental level.

This method challenges assumptions rather than relying on them, making it a powerful tool for problem-solving.

How To Apply First Principle Thinking

All of the above sounds really great, but how can you actually apply first principles thinking?

Below, you can find a simple 3-step framework pioneered by Elon Musk, mixed with Socratic questioning and the "5 whys" approach.

Step 1: identify the problem or assumption.

The first stage is to identify the problem in front of you and any assumptions you have alongside it.

Example: My business isn't generating enough revenue because we don't have enough customers.

Step 2: Breakdown the problem into first principles.

There are different approaches you can use to break down a problem into its fundamental principles. I have outlined two below.

5 Whys: Simpler but Less Effective Option

The five whys is a great way to break down problems and assumptions into their components to figure out what you're actually trying to solve for. Let's take a look at an example below.

Problem/assumption: My business isn't generating enough revenue because we don't have enough customers.

Why don't we have enough paying customers? Customers aren't interested in our value proposition or solution.

Why aren't they interested? Our proposition is too expensive and has a low perceived value.

Why? We're not packaging our proposition in the right way or not providing enough value.

Why? We don't clearly understand our value proposition.

And so now you have the components of the problem, and you understand what you're actually trying to solve for. You can also keep going with the "whys" if desired.

However, the 5 Whys approach has its limitations, as it doesn't consider other perspectives and can lack evidence, which can lead to biases. Socratic thinking is a more thorough approach you can take to breaking down a problem.

Socratic Thinking: Longer but More Effective Option

Socratic Questioning is a method that can help us reflect on our thinking process in a way that limits biases and emotional responses.

Socratic Questioning generally follows the following process:

1. Clarifying Your Thinking and Explaining the Origins of Your Ideas

• Why do I think this?

• What exactly do I think?

2. Challenging Assumptions

• How do I know if this is true?

• What if I thought the opposite?

3. Looking for Evidence

• How can I back this up?

• What are the sources?

4. Considering Alternate Perspectives

• What might others think?

• How do I know I am correct?

5. Examining Consequences and Implications

• What if I am wrong?

• What are the consequences if I am wrong?

6. Questioning the Original Questions

• Why did I think that?

• Was I correct?

• What conclusions can I draw from the reasoning process?

Step 3: Create new solutions from scratch

Once you have broken down the problem into its first principles, it’s time to come up with a solution.

In the example provided earlier, where the problem was a lack of paying customers due to a high-cost value proposition with low perceived value, breaking down this issue into its first principles allowed us to identify the core components. Now, armed with this understanding, we can begin crafting innovative solutions from the ground up that address each of these components systematically.

In summary, thinking from first principles is a method of critical thinking that breaks down a problem into its simple components and questions them to produce a solution. When faced with a problem or assumptions, it’s important to be able to delve deeper into understanding them.

Initially, this may feel uncomfortable, and the correct process or framework is the one that works best for you, not necessarily the one that everyone uses. You can use the stages and frameworks given in this article, but I recommend using them as a guide rather than a strict system.

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