How Alexander solved the problem no one else could

In 333 BC, Alexander marched his army into Gordium, the old capital of Phrygia in modern Turkey. In the city stood an ancient ox-cart, its yoke tied to its pole with a knot of cornel bark so intricate that no end could be seen.

Legend held that whoever untied the knot would rule all of Asia. For generations, the clever and the ambitious had tried. All had failed.

Alexander studied the knot for a while. Then, as the most famous version of the story goes, he drew his sword and sliced it through. Another account says he simply pulled the pin from the pole and slid the knot off.

Either way, the lesson was the same. Alexander refused to accept the rules of a game designed to be unwinnable. Within a decade, he would rule an empire stretching from Greece to India.

Today "cutting the Gordian knot" means solving a complex problem with a bold, direct stroke. Sometimes the answer is not working harder at the puzzle — it's questioning whether the puzzle is the real problem.