With the number of bearded faces you see in every webinar, you might think Hanlon’s Razor is a new brand of shaving gear. No, it’s not. Hanlon’s Razor is a mental model. A way of thinking. It will change the quality of your relationships. Ever since I learnt about it some years ago, it’s made me a happier person. So I wanted to introduce it to you too.
Hanlon’s Razor says “Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by negligence.” Next time you feel hard done by, don’t attribute it to ill-will or evil intent. Never do that. Think of it as an aberration. Chances are it was an oversight.
Got only eleven bananas when you paid for twelve? No, the fruit vendor is not a cheat. He counted wrong. Your friends went for a movie without telling you? No, it’s not that no one loves you anymore. They forgot. That’s all.
Think about what happens when something goes wrong, or when we feel hard done by. Our instinctive response is to attribute motives to it. Someone did it on purpose, to hurt us. To harm our cause. And once we let that thought into our head, we get upset, agitated. Angry with the person who did it. And we resolve to get even, to avenge that hurt. Happens, no?
With Hanlon’s Razor, you stop doing that. You tell yourself it was an oversight, an unintended mistake. And it is not that the person – or the world – is conspiring against you. If you think of it that way, it doesn’t upset you.
Imagine. There’s an important project you have been working on. In fact, you have been leading it together with a colleague. It’s going well, and you are hoping a successful project will do good things for the company. And for your career. And then you discover that your colleague has sent a mail to the boss, and to all the stakeholders, updating them on the project status. Without marking you on it. You only learn about the mail when it gets mentioned in a meeting. You feel betrayed. You are convinced your colleague did it to hog all the credit. To make the bosses think he is the one doing all the work. And to make sure he gets that promotion ahead of you. You don’t want to work with such a terrible guy. You even say some nasty things about him to a friend. Which reach his ears too in no time. And the relationship gets soured.
Think about it. Maybe it was just a mistake. He missed copying you on the mail, that’s all.
Some of you will argue “You don’t know him, he did it on purpose.” Perhaps. But that’s a remote chance. A smaller possibility. It’s not the norm. Hanlon’s Razor helps you reset the default option in your head. It makes sure your starting premise is that people are good. People want to help you. The world is a good place. Try using Hanlon’s Razor, and you will discover that is indeed usually the case. And you will find the whole universe conspiring to make things happen the way you want them to.
Hanlon’s Razor will make you happier. And make your world a better place too.
That banana seller is a good guy after all.