Mental Models

Hanlon's Razor

Don't attribute to malice what stupidity explains

Best for: defusing conflict before reacting
Time: 5–15 min
Difficulty: Beginner

Example

A teammate keeps missing your meeting agenda; assuming the worst

Applying Hanlon's Razor

Tempting explanation — they're undermining your project
Mundane explanation — calendar invite landed in their spam folder
Even more mundane — they have back-to-backs and never read pre-reads
Test — ask once, kindly; see what happens
Cost of being wrong — assuming malice damages a real working relationship

Related frameworks

Occam's Razor

Prefer the simplest explanation

Chesterton's Fence

Don't remove what you don't understand

Circle of Competence

Know what you know — and don't

Want to fill in your own Hanlon's Razor?

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