The Stoics like Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus had an exercise called “Premeditatio Malorum” which translates into “Premeditation of Evil”.
The goal was to envision the potential negative outcome that could happen.
In modern time business we call this “Inversion Thinking”.
It’s a problem-solving technique where you tackle problems backward. Instead of chasing short lived win, take a moment to ask what might actually make things fall apart.
It’s surprising how useful that is. Especially in business. Especially in a competitive market.
Many companies are caught up in moving fast, launching, sharing, creating.
But few rarely proactively plan for when competitors will copy.
Just stop and ask, “Where is the …”:
- Documentation of my creative process and ownership?
- Proof of originality and novelty in case of infringements and lawsuits?
- Evidence, how can I easy and fast combine when addressing counterparts, counterfeits and preparing for court hearings?
It’s easy to assume bad things won’t happen. Until they do. And when they do, you realise what’s missing and it’s messy. And the cost isn’t just legal. It’s strategic. Reputational. Sometimes existential.
Inversion isn’t pessimism. It’s clarity.
The record. The timeline. The process. The proof. You can’t build that backwards.
This mental shift from planning for succes to envision the potential negative outcome, reveals risks, blind spots, and overlooked threats — especially when it comes to intellectual property rights where risk often hides in plain sight.
And here is why Inversion Thinking is so powerful:
As humans, we’re better at seeing threats than seeing opportunities.
Because identifying potential failures early on it’s easier to steer projects away from failure, mistakes and worst-case scenarios.
By inverting your perspective, you can transform complex problems into obvious, novel and creative solutions. Inversion leads to a faster and easier decision-making process.
Working on anything exciting lately?
Let’s make sure it stays yours and prepare for the worst.
You’re product is most vulnerable after it becomes valuable.
Competitors will eventually want a piece of your succes and market.
Imagine this: Setting up a system that makes it easy to enforce your intellectual Propert Rights with confidence … and proactively building convincing proof of your process that stands the test in court.
And even better: it might not even be necessary to go to court to stop the infringement.
We can help you planning for what happens when someone steals, copies, or misuses your work.
Reach out if you want to proactively build a solid IPR protection strategy and system.