Originals by Adam Grant

Summary

Adam Grant shares how non-conformists contoured and moved the world. He discusses how one can notice and champion new ideas, how leaders can catalyse new ideas and build cultures that promote diverse views and recommendations for parents and/or teachers in creating an environment that breeds originality.

Table of Contents

1. Creative Destruction: The risky business of going against the grain
2. Blinded Inventors and One-Eyed Investors: The Art and Science of recognizing original ideas
3. Out on a Limb: Speaking truth to power
4. Fools Rush In: Timing, strategic procastination, and the first-mover disadvantage
5. Goldilocks and the Trojan Horse: Creating and maintaining coalitions
6. Rebel with a Cause: How siblings, parents and mentors nurture originality
7. Rethinking Groupthink: The myths of strong cultures, cults and devil’s advocates
8. Rocking the boat and keep it steady: Managing anxiety, apathy, ambivalence, and anger
9. Actions for Impact

Breaking It Down

0. How to be an Original

1. Creating, recognising & advocating originality
2. How to create a culture of originality
3. How parents & teachers can help children to be original

1. Creative Destruction: The risky business of going against the grain

Two Roads to Achievement

Conformity: Following the majority down conventional routes & maintaining the status quo

Originality: Taking the path least travelling & making things better

The road towards originality is those that take action to make their vision a reality. They are constantly curious, causing them to challenge the default and look for a better solution.

Interesting findings from psychologists study of history’s most influential people

Even though many believe that child prodigies are the ones that have the most potential to become influential people in the future, they did not end up being the bulk of the people that are history’s most influential people.

It was found that they focus their time and energy on existing knowledge that produces new insights around them- which potentially unlocks much greater potential in value-creation.

They tend to conform instead of inventing new rules. It can be scoped as excelling in a system instead of recreating the system itself.

Originality is the act of creative destruction

Originality requires one to remake systems as it is a process of removing the old ways of doing things & removing the fear of causing change. Hence, originality delineates creative destruction as it is the recreation of a system.

Takeaway

1. A trait of an Original is someone whom is curious
2. An Original invents/remake than conform- they re-create the system than excel in it
3. They are fearless in causing change

2. Blind Inventors and One-eyed Investors: The art & science of recognising original ideas

The Biggest Obstacle is idea selection than idea generation

In many cases, managers are the ones that make the decisions. However, it might not yield the results as they are on a managerial mindset than a creative mindset. To be an original requires one to adopt a creative mindset.

To adopt it, one can generate ideas themselves- improving their ability to see potential in something more novel.

With this in mind, it is the pure artists/creators that are the best forecasters of originality. It is because once an individual is in a managerial role, they are in the evaluative mindset- causing false negatives.

Justin Berg’ experiment

Justin Boey did an experiment where he asked people to generate product ideas followed by creating a list of evaluation criteria to measure the success of an idea with an actual audience.

He found that those that thought like creators followed by thinking like managers had an accuracy of 41% while those that made a list of evaluation criteria followed by generating ideas had an accuracy of 65%.

Therefore, increasing the accuracy of idea selection is to generate own ideas immediately after creating a list of evaluation criteria.

How to increase the likelihood of being a Nobel Prize Winner

15 Michigan State University researchers found that Nobel Prize winners were dramatically higher when they are engaged in arts than less accomplished scientists.

Diagram from “Originals” by Adam Grant

It is found that they are more open to new ways of looking at things. Furthermore, their source of creative insights came from the arts.

Hazards of Intuition: Steve Jobs & Segway

The two-wheeled magical carpet ride that can be found at theme parks currently was invented by Dean Kamen. His creation of the Segway drew great attention from many great inventors and investors. One of the notable ones was Steve Jobs.

The Segway live up to its potential which elucidates why Steve Jobs was overconfident with the Segway’s potential.

Steve Jobs had:

1. Domain inexperience
2. Hubris
3. Enthusiasm

Even though Steve Jobs was known for his intuitive ability to discern what is good and bad, intuitions are only as accurate in domains where one have a lot of experience in.

Even though the Segway does create value for people, it neglects to see how products are not the one that creates value but customers are the ones that create value for businesses.

Warby Parker & the need for high depth & breadth of experience

The creation of Warby Parker where eyeglasses are affordable and easily accessible elucidates the need for high depth & breadth of experience to be original. The founders realised that glasses are sold for $500 and decided to challenge the market with glasses that cost around $95 only. For them to do so, they had to know about the industry knowledge. One of the founders, Neil Blumenthal did not wear glasses but he spent 5 years working at a non-profit that trained women to start businesses in Asia, Arica and Latin America. The product that he taught women to sell was eyeglasses.

One of the reasons they can be “originals” and a recent example of how original they are is the creation of “Warbles”.

Warbles allow employees to submit suggestions & requests for new technology features at any time. What makes it distinct is that ideas are not only evaluated by managers but by fellow creators as well. As they all play a part in generating ideas, they are better able to distinguish which ideas are novel and raise them out. Furthermore, even though managers can vote promising ones up and down, the technology teams can overrule the manager’s evaluation of the ideas by requesting to prove the novelty & value of an idea that they believe in.

Takeaway

1. To be an original, one requires the right depth and breadth of experience to challenge the default
2. To put on a creative mindset, it is best to create a list of evaluation criteria followed by generating ideas to increase the accuracy of finding novel ideas
3. Being invested in the arts can foster originality as it open one to new ways of looking at things and serves as a source of creative insights through art

3. Out on a Limb: speaking truth to power

The chapter covers how to reduce the risks of speaking up and gain the potential benefits from it

Speaking up is generally penalized. However, two factors make speaking up a success

Most leaders & managers appreciate it when others offer to help build networks, gather new knowledge & data and seek feedback. However, when it comes to speaking up and it is generally penalized unless one has power and status.

Power: Exercising control or authority over others

Status: Being respected & admired

An experiment led by University of North Carolina professor Alison Fragale found that when people are punished for exercising power without status, others perceived them as hard to deal with.

Hence, power & status are generally required to speak up effectively. It boils down to being in the right decision to make decisions and being seen as a figure of authority.

The Sarick Effect

Even though the Sarick Effect was self-made by Adam Grant to prove the exposure effect, the effect provides a good learning point.

The Sarick Effect: A form of persuasion when someone wishes to convince a hostile audience about a point effectively by arguing against it.

An example of the Sarick Effect being used is the parenting website Babble even though it has ceased operations. Babble is a blog network that challenges dominant parenting cliches and tackles cold hard truths humorously.

When Babble was pitched to venture capitalists, used an unorthodox method of listing the top five reasons why they should not invest. This strategy brought Babble $3.3 million in funding.

The strategy was used once again when pitching to Disney- eventually selling Babble for $40 million.

The effectiveness of the Sarick Effect boils down to 4 reasons:

1. It disarms the audience as they are aware that one is trying to persuade them
2. It makes one look smart by knowing what the future roadblocks are
3. It gives a sense that one is more trustworthy
4. Leaves audiences with a more favourable assessment of the idea- making it harder for investors to generate ideas about what is wrong with the company

Therefore, sometimes, the use of inversion/the Sarick Effect yields better results than the conventional method of persuasion.

The Exposure Effect

The Exposure Effect: Preference for things or people that are more familiar with one

Familiarity does not breed contempt as it provides ease of processing. Hence, elucidating why it is easier to hold on to old ideas & beliefs than new ones.

To find “Originals”, disagreeable people are a better bang for one’s buck

To find people who go against the grain and innovate, one is better off targeting suggestions from people with a track record of challenging the status quo than highly agreeable people.

Thus, to truly innovate and be original, one should look for those that are disagreeable than those that are highly agreeable.

Takeaways

1. To effectively speak up, one should attain power(to make decisions) and status(to be respected)
2. The Sarick Effect: Sometimes to persuade, arguing against one’s own ideas is better
3. Exposure Effect: People tend to prefer ideas, beliefs, things, etc that are familiar to them – make the idea, beliefs, things, etc that one is pushing for familiar!
4. One is more likely to find “originals” in diagreeable individuals than highly agreeable individuals

4. Fools Rush In

Originality should not be rushed

When Da Vinci created The Last Supper, he spent 15 years developing the ideas while working on various other projects. Many believe that one needs to rush into a certain idea while being fully invested in it. However, the book challenges this with the example of Da Vinci and Warby Parker that did different things concurrently.

Procrastination is a common habit of creative thinkers & great problem solvers

Even though procrastination has a negative connotation, the book shows that procrastination provides great deliberation in arranging one’s thoughts and moulding them mentally, reducing them to writing only when it is satisfactory.

The point was delineated with Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address which reframed the Civil War in 272 words as a quest for freedom & equality promised in the declaration of independence. The closing paragraph of his speech was not written until the night before the speech and it was still the morning of the speech when it was finalized. The reason why procrastination may be effective can be traced to the Zeigarnik Effect.

The Zeigarnik Effect

The Zeigarnik Effect: The tendency to better recall interrupted/incomplete tasks or events than those that are completed

The effectiveness of the Zeiganik Effect maybe when a task/event is interrupted and left undone, it stays active in one’s mind- allowing it to marinate and improve on an unconscious level.

In contrast, once a task is completed, one tends to stop thinking about it.

Our innovations/ideas is a distillation of one’s personal knowledge & experiences

Martin King Luther’s Dream speech was a distillation of over 350 speeches and materials. During the year when he gave the speech, it was estimated that he delivered over 350 speeches.

Through the years, he collated a plethora of materials at his disposal which he could draw upon to make his speeches memorable & authentic.

It was mentioned by Grace Hansen that “King had collected a repertoire of oratorical fragments- successful passages from his own sermons, sections from other preachers’ work, anecdotes, bible verses and lines from his favourite poets. He did not so much write his speeches as assembling them, by rearranging and adapting materials he had used many times before”.

Martin King Luther Jr’s “I have a dream speech” delineates how important knowledge and experiences that one has extracted and gained throughout the years are. They allow one to consciously and unconsciously innovate into better ideas.

Why being a pioneer might not be the best decision

Even though many think that having the first-mover advantage is crucial, it does not apply to every aspect. First-mover advantage is pivotal when it comes to:

1. Patented technology
2. Strong network effect (value of a product or service increasing when more people use it)

Despite the advantages, it can be a disadvantage when the market is:

1. Uncertain
2. Unknown
3. Underdeveloped
4. Rushing in to beat competitors

When one delays their market entry, it can create learning opportunities to adapt.

Hence, being a pioneer depends on the context. If the context has high uncertainty, it is better to delay one’s entry and observe.

Two life cycles of creativity

1. Young Geniuses
2. Old Masters

The styles of thinking about innovation differ between them. The styles of thinking are:

1. Conceptual (Young Geniuses):

a. Sprinters

b. Formulate big ideas & set out to execute them

c. Issues with this style of thinking are fixed habits of thinking

2. Experimental (Old Masters):

a. Marathoners

b. Solve problems through trial and error, learning & evolving as they go

c. They tend not to have a particular solution in mind leading them to adapt & change along the way

Looking at the two styles of thinking towards innovation (conceptual & experimental), it is evident that experimental is better in the long run. However, it requires one to be relentless and committed as the horizon is much longer than conceptual thinkers.

Hence, being an experimental thinker is better in the long run. For one to become an experimental thinker, requires one to learn through trial & error, adapting and evolving along the way.

Mistakes people regret are not errors of the commission but errors of omission

Even though speaking up or doing something unorthodox creates great inertia, it tends to leave one with lesser regrets than not trying. If one wants to have lesser regrets, expressing oneself is better than censoring oneself.

Takeaways

1. Originality should not be rushed and does not require one to be fully invested and not be doing different things concurrently
2. The Zeigarnik Effect: It is better to learve tasks interrupted/completed as it lingers in one’s mind.
3. The creativity/originality/ideas that one has is a distillation of one’s personal knowledge and experiences. Look for new knowledge and experiences!
4. When it comes to being a pioneer, it is good when first-mover advantage is evident (patented technology & strong network effect). However, delay of entry is best when situation is uncertain, unknown, underdeveloped and if the purpose is to rush in to beat competitors
5. Two cycles of creativity: young geniuses (conceptual) and old masters (experimental). The style of creativity: experimental is better in the long-term. Experimental thinking is to undergo rigorous trial-and-error, thinking like a scientist, adapting and evolving constantly.
6. To leave oneself with lesser regrets, make errors of comission instead of errors of omission.

5. Goldilocks & The Trojan Horse: Creating & Maintaining Coalitions

Tempered Radicals: Meredith Perry & the creation of ultrasonic wireless charging system

Meredith Perry thought of using ultrasound which is invisible & silent to generate air vibrations, converting them into wireless power.

She faced great inertia with her physics professor, ultrasonic engineers and the world’s most respected scientists telling her how impossible it is.

Despite this, she managed to land $750,000 in seed money from Mark Cuban, Marissa Mayer and Peter Thiel’s Founder Fund. She created UBeam and faced the struggles of proving the viability of the technology to those working in her company. She shared how she changed her message from what she is trying to create to what specifications she needs.

Simon Sinek’s TED talk & book “Start with Why” shares that if we trying to inspire & influence others, we should start by explaining the why. When we explain the purpose and vision, it influences others. However, the narrative changes when the idea is original & challenges the status quo.

Originality may clash with deep-rooted convictions & beliefs held by others- making it difficult to influence them. When creative non-conformists are trying to explain their why it may violate the common notions of why is possible & impossible. Hence, it requires originals and non-conformists to be tempered radicals

Being a tempered radical is to tone down their radicalism by showing their ideas in a way that targets the mainstream. It also shifts the gears from explaining the why to explaining the how.

Being a tempered radical: Shifting from why to how

When we explain why it allows us to affirm our convictions.

However, when we explain the how in our ideas, it makes the idea more moderate as it requires us to confront the gaps in our knowledge. Also, allowing us to notice the potential flaws in one’s convictions.

Enemies make better allies than Frenemies

 When comparing frenemies to enemies, frenemies are ambivalent relationships- making them highly unpredictable. While on the other hand, enemies are predictable as they consistently undermine.

The issue with having frenemies that are ambivalent relationships is it causes one to constantly be on guard and question oneself whether that person can be trusted or not. To substantiate, psychologist Bert Uchino found ambivalent relationships unhealthier than negative ones.

Hence, frenemies cause more emotional and mental turmoil than enemies.

Cut Frenemies and Convert Enemies

For enemies, they have to work really hard to overcome their initial negative impressions to like us. Furthermore, to avoid cognitive dissonance, it becomes harder for them to change their changed positive mindset toward us as it requires another cognitive shift again.

When enemies are converted, they are best at persuading other enemies to our camp as they understand both sides clearly.

The Lion King & the importance of familiarity

Lion King is widely popular and enjoyed by many. It achieved many achievements such as being the highest-grossing film of 1994, winning two Oscars & a golden globe and earning $1 billion by 2014.

It was due to familiarity that Lion King was given the green light to be created.

The Lion King was conceived as an epic tale about the succession of kings. When it was first described this way, it did not successfully convince the managers to give it the go-ahead sign. However, when it was described as “Hamlet with Lions” where the uncle kills the father and the son avenges the father’s death, the film got the go-ahead sign.

Through this anecdote, it showed how when familiarity was added (Hamlet from Shakespeare), it provided the necessary familiarity with what the radical idea was.

Hence, it delineates the importance of adding familiarity when it comes to explaining or showcasing an “original” idea.

To breed originality, start from a more unfamiliar place followed by adding in familiarity

By starting with unfamiliarity, it creates the mental injection of novelty in ideas. When familiarity is added, it infuses usefulness & practicality into our ideas.

6. Rebel with a Cause: How siblings, parents & mentors can nurture originality

To influence, use values instead of a cost-benefit equation

Through an experiment conducted by Adam Grant and his colleague David Hoffman, they posted two different signs to encourage medical professionals to wash their hands.

The first poster stated ” Hand hygiene prevents you from catching diseases” while the second poster stated, “Hand hygiene prevents patients from catching diseases”.

The second sign led to a 10% increase in the washing of hands and a 45% increase in the use of soap & gel.

Through this experiment, it elucidated how thinking about oneself invokes the logic of consequences- which tends to be overconfident about our invulnerability to harm.

However, when we think about others, we move to a logic of appropriateness and it changes the calculation of cost and benefit to an ambivalent feeling toward’s our personal values. It makes it feel that we are compromising our values which form our identity.

Noun (Identity) > Verb (Outcome)

When we use verbs it portrays it as an action to leads to an outcome. For example, “Do not cheat in this test”.

However, a noun ties it to our identity, in this case, “Do not be a cheater”. The example shows how when we use a noun (which refers to the person), it makes them feel that their identity and values are being compromised. So it shifts from a cost-benefit equation to values/identity-based.

Takeaways

1. To influence, speak to values instead of a cost-benefit equation. Shift the focus from oneself to others.
2. Use nouns instead of verbs to speak to one’s identity instead of outcome.

7. Rethinking Groupthink: The myths of strong cultures, cults and devil’s advocates

Yale psychologist Irving Janis identified cohesiveness as one of the key factors of the groupthink effect.

It is stated that cohesiveness creates a strong culture where people share common values, goals, norms and beliefs.

Her analysis focused mainly on bad decisions. However, the contrary was found when it was researched on good & bad strategic decisions made in business and politics. It was found that cohesiveness led teams to make better decisions. The role of cohesiveness is inconsistent when it comes to fostering a groupthink effect. Therefore, it requires one to rethink groupthink.

The three blueprints of founders

1. Professional: Looks for those with specific skills and deep knowledge
2. Star: Looks for future potential
3. Commitment: Looks for cultural fit where they match in values and norms

Professionals and stars, they give autonomy and challenging tasks while those in the commitment blueprint focused on building strong emotional bonds where “family” & “love” can be found to be the key themes.

Sociologist James Baron tracked firms through the internet boom (the late 1990s) and after the bubble burst (2000) and found that commitment was far superior. They had zero failure rate while failure for stars, it was 3 times more than professionals. Furthermore, the commitment blueprint had 3 times more chance than stars and 4 times more chance than professionals to IPO.

The success of the commitment blueprint can be found in shared values & goals. However, this only applies in an environment that is highly predictable. When the environment is unpredictable and dynamic, such as in technology & aerospace, this does not hold true.

The issue is due to strong cultures having a harder time pivoting and adapting as they tend to resist insights that differ from theirs.

Hence, having shared values & goals is the best in a predictable environment but does not apply to unpredictable & dynamic environments.

Polaroid & the downside of strong cultures (commitment blueprint)

Strong cultures breed the comfort of consensus over the discomfort of dissent. To counter this, it is encouraged to gather advice from people with differing insights & perspectives. This allows the majority to be challenged to think about their stance again & pursue new innovative viewpoints.

The minority’s perspectives are crucial not for their accuracy but for shifting the overall mindset of the rest- reducing/removing the effects of groupthink. Even though they might not be right, they help others to identify the gaps in their understandings and promote new insights.

The main issue with Polaroid’s strong culture was that it fostered overconfidence and reputational concerns. They only accepted viewpoints that hard-copy media was the way forward. This results in the potential of digital media being completely missed.

Bridgewater Associates & the culture of encouraging disagreement: Radical Transparency

To combat the comfort of consensus, there is a need to base decisions on the idea meritocracy than on status hierarchy or democracy.

For this to be achieved, there is a need to incorporate radical transparency in the entity’s culture where everyone is encouraged to speak their minds and challenge the status quo.

It was found that to change another’s perspective, having a devil’s advocate is insufficient in shifting one’s confirmation biases. For it to be shifted, there is a need to have individuals that truly support a different stance. When the disagreement is authentic, it stimulates diversity in perspectives & insights.

Canaries: Bring problems instead of solutions first

It is researched that leaders react much more positively when they are presented with solutions than problems. However, this fosters a culture of advocacy than inquiry- reducing the opportunities to learn from other perspectives.

Therefore, there is a need to raise problems before solutions in an entity’s culture which can be seen in Google’s “canaries” and Bridgewater’s log issues and process for it.

In 2007, Google’s head of operations Lazlo Bock created “canaries” which is a group of trusted engineers to provide a diverse range of perspectives. They are all known to speak their minds. The group is called canaries as canaries were used in the 19th century to detect deadly gases in coal mines.

Bridgewater Associates has an issue log that allows employees to list problems. It is followed by gathering a group of credible people to diagnose the problem, share their perspectives & explore the causes & solutions.

Hence, the common knowledge of solving problems instead of bringing them out first does not hold true. Instead, one should raise problems first and gather reliable people with differing perspectives to diagnose and explore.

Be a shaper

Ray Dalio realised that Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs had something in common. They were:

1. Curious
2. Non-conforming
3. Rebellious

When they are faced with risks, their fear of not succeeding is their fear of failure- which falls back to error of commission than the error of omission.

The challenge is not just unleashing originality in oneself but fostering a culture that unleashes originality in others.

Takeaways

1. For a predictable environment, the commitment blueprint where there is a strong culture of shared values is superior than the star & professional blueprint.
2. To counter the downsides of a strong culture (overconfidence & reputational concerns), one has to have a culture where diversity & disagreement is encouraged.
3. To encourage diversity & disagreement, there must be radical transparency (encouraging disagreements and others to speak their minds).
4. To overcome confirmation biases, having a devil’s advocate is insufficient. There is a need to have individuals that truly support a different stance. Authentic viewpoints stimulate different perspectives and insights.
5. Even if differeing minority viewpoints may not be accurate, they serve a greater good by allowing the majority to see the flaws in their views.
6. Bring problems instead of solutions as solutions promotes the culture of advocacy instead of inquiry.
7. Originals are shapers and they have the commonality of being curious, non-conforming and rebellious.

8. Rocking the Boat and Keeping It Steady: Managing anxiety, apathy and anger

Discusses having the courage to rock the boat & learning the techniques to keep it steady.

Positive power of negative thinking

Defensive pessimist: When self-doubt creeps in, they do not allow themselves to be crippled by fear. Instead, they imagine a disastrous scenario intensely and converts it into motivation. They are driven to avoid it causing them to consider all the potential details- giving them a sense of control.

The power of negative thinking is the sense of control it provides by removing complacency.

It springs us into rigorous planning to be in control of our situations.

Reframing fear to excitement

Even though many advise us to remain calm during moments of fear, reframing our minds to excitement works better.

Professor at Harvard Business School, Alison Wood Brooks got students to say either “I am calm” or “I am excited” found that those who said “I am excited” were 17% more persuasive and 15% more confident.

In another experiment where students were told to “try to be excited” before a test scored 22% better.

When we try to stay calm, it suppresses our emotions. On the other hand, being excited converts our intense emotions of fear to positive emotions. It falls in line with how we have a stop & system. Being calm is asking our system to stop even though fear has activated the go system.

One should use the go system when we are pushing ourselves to get into a commitment. However, the stop system is better when we are in the midst of our commitment as it helps us to reduce complacency and rigorously prepare to be in control.

Outsourcing inspiration

The most inspiring way to convey our vision is to outsource it to the people who are affected by it.

When the message/vision comes from the affected people, it makes it more authentic, honest and truthful.

People are naturally risk-averse: present things as losses than gains

When people are shown guaranteed losses than gains, it makes them have the mentality to go big or go home.

To influence other’s to take risks, one should emphasize losses rather than gains to shift people’s risk preferences.

The risk becomes more appealing when they are faced with guaranteed losses.

To move others, show the huge gap between now & the potential future

For others to take on risks, there is a need to show them the issues with the present. To do so, one has to push them out of their comfort zone stemmed in reality.

Communication expert Nancy Duarte who spent her career studying the shape of amazing presentations says that the greatest communicators of all time start by establishing the status quo and comparing it to what it could be. The best ones make the gap between them as large as possible

How to stay on track when our commitment is wavering

To be an original, it is an uphill battle with great inertia. During times one’s commitment wavers, it is important to consider the progress already made. It makes one realise that it is a waste to stop now and better to just push on.

How to be hot and cold concurrently

Being hot fuels one to take action and change. While being cold shapes one’s actions. To do so, there is a need for deep-acting which is also known as method acting. Rather than just acting, it is about becoming the character/identity we want to elucidate. Once we become who we want to be, it changes the inner workings of our feelings.

How to channel anger

Throughout our lifetime, we are bound to have moments of anger. Adam Grant shares our venting anger does not eliminate the anger within but only feeds it.

Instead of venting it, we should reflect on the suffering of the victims. When we shift from being angry at others to being angry for others, we do not seek revenge but justice.

Takeaways

1. Negative thinking combats complacency and promotes preparation. Negative thinking should be used when one is in the midst of a commitment. Positive thinking should be used when entering into a commitment.
2. Reframe our fears to excitement by saying words to ourselves such as “I am excited” and more.
3. To inspire others, the vision/message should be outsourced to the affected people- making it more authentic.
4. Bearing in mind how risk averse people are, emphaize the guaranteed losses instead of gains to shift people’s risk preferences.
5. To influence others, make the gap between reality and the potential future as wide as possible.
6. To stay committed, look back at the amount of progress made to stay true to the path taken
7. To be hot (action & change) and cold (shaping our actions), use deep acting where we become the character/identity we want to be.
8. We can channel our anger better by shifting from being agry at others to being angry for others.

9. Actions for Impact

These are actions recommended by Adam Grant to make whatever is shared in his book applicable.

1. For individuals to generate, recognize, voice and champion new ideas
2. Leaders to stimulate novel ideas and build cultures that welcome disagreements
3. Parents and teachers to aid their children to become originals

1. Generating and Recognizing Original Ideas

1. Question the default: Instead of just following the status, question why it exists. It is important to bear in mind that rules and systems originated from people and how it is malleable in nature.
2. Increase the number of ideas generated by ALOT: There are eventual hits and misses. To increase the odds of hits, increase the number of ideas generated.
3. Immerse onself in a new domain: To be an original, it requires one to broaden their frame of reference. One of the potential approach is to learn a new craft. Another is to trying job rotations that requires a new base of knowledge and skills. The third approach is to learn about different cultures such as living in foreign countries to gain diversified experiences.
4. Procastinate strategically: Bearing in mind Zeigarnik effect where interrupted/incompleted tasks are more asily recalled, one should deliberately stop. By taking a break, it allows one incubate more likely engage in new thinking and ideas.
5. Have a challenge network/people to seek feedback: It can be difficult to stop the flaws in one’s ideas. Hence, it is important to develop a challenge network that shows us the gaps in our understanding.

2. Voicing and Championing New Ideas

1. Have a balanced risk portfolio: Ensure that we are not completed invested in one domain and have another domain to fall back to.
2. The use of inversion/arguing against one’s own ideas: the sarick effect suggests that aruging against one’s own ideas is better.
3. Foster familiarity in one’s ideas: In line with the exposure effect, fostering familiarity makes our ideas more comfortable with it. For example, packaging Lion King as the Hamlet of lions.
4. To find “originals”, one has better luck finding them in disagreeable people than highly agreeable people: People who are disagraeebale tend to go against the grian. This increases the likelihood of finding people that spur on innovation and changes.
5. Seek those with different values but same methods: They provide perspectives that one might miss out.
6. Be a teampered radical: When the idea is highly radical and original, it makes it hard for others to understand. Learn how to present it in a moderate way- tying it to themes, values and beliefs that they are already familiar with.

3. Managing Emotions

1. Movitate ourselves differently when we are committed vs uncertain: When we are committed, we should motivate ourselves to reach the finishing line. When our commitment falters, we should retrospect to the progress one has already made.
2. Do not calm down when one is fearful. Be excited instead: It is easier to convert intense emotions from anxiety & fear to positive emotions through excitement.
3. When angry, focus on angry for others than angry at others: When we are angry at others, it only fan the flames of anger. However, when we are angry for others, it leads us to take actions to help others.
4. Find others that believe in the same vision as you: When we know that we are not along in our journey, it increases our will to act.
5. If no action is taken, the status quo persists: The four responses to dissatisfaction are exit, voice, persistence and neglect. Exit and voice improves our circumstances. When we have control over the situation, speaking up is the best choice. However, if one does not ahve control over the situation, achieving influence or exiting might be the better choice.

4. Sparking Original Ideas

1. Run an innovation event/competition: This provides the opportunity to work on anything they find interesting. Giving them the freedom to explore and create whatever they are passionate about. This should be followed by them evaluating each other’s ideas and provide a budget for the teams to work on it.
2. Incorporate inversion: Instead of thinking to how make the company better, it is better to ask how to destroy the company. This provides a paradigm shift in how one will see the potential opportunities and ideas.
3. Have individuals from different backgrounds to pitch and evaluate ideas: It provides a diverse range of perspectives to aid in disicion making and brainstorming.
4. Removing the words “love” and “hate”: The use of such words creates a clear preference for a certain perspective. Hence, it is important to state the exact areas where one perspetive is stronger/weaker at.

5. Building Cultures of Originality

1. Hire on cultural contribution than cultural fit: When leaders hire on cultural fit, it fosters overconfidence and reputational concerns as radical transparency and a culture of speaking up are not present. Hence, when leaders hire through cultural contribution, it brings in individuals that enrich the entity’s culture such as bringing in differing perspective and insights.
2. Seek ideas at entry interviews than just exit interviews: Instead of asking individuals for ideas when they are exiting the company, leaders should ask new hires during onboarding what cultural practicses should be espoused and filter those that require further evaluation.
3. Seek problems than solutions first: By seeking for solutions rather than problems, it creates a culture of advocacy than a culture of inquiry. Hence, creating an issue log like Bridgewater Associate or a group of “canaries” like Google are good starting points.
4. Instead of having devil’s advocate, unearth those that truly disgaree: To fully encourage dissent and gain the valuable perspectives it offers, it requires authentic disagreement from people who truly believe in their views. Therefore, it is important to have a minority of people that provides an authentic disagreeable views.
5. Welcome and practise radical transparency: For others to truly speak their mind, it is important that it is practised from top to bottom in an organisation.

6. Actions for Teachers and Parents

1. Ask children what their role models would do: It makes them think what the originals and non-conformists would do in their situation.
2. Praise their character than their action: Speak to their identity than just the act/outcome.
3. Explain how an action causes harm to others: When we consider the negative consequences on others, it makes us feel empathetic and guilty.
4. Place emphasis on values than rules: Rules constricts a child’s view of the world. However, values serve as a guide.
5. Create distinct niches for children to work on: This allows them to learn how to value other perspectives and knowledge.

Key Takeaways

These are a list of personal key takeaways after reading the book:

1. Originals are constantly curious
2. Originals invent/remake the system than trying to excel in it
3. They do not fear causing change as fear of not succeeding exceeds their fear of failure
4. To be an original, one must develop the right depth and gain a breadth of experiences
5. To be in a creative mindset, create a list of evaluation criterias followed by generating ideas
6. Experience other domains such as Art, Sciences and more. Pick one that you will enjoy and interested in. Other than domains, experiencing different jobs and cultures are important as well.
7. To speak up against the grain, having power and status is important to expedite action.
8. To persuade, the Sarick effect (arguing against one’s own ideas) is a good option.
9. Foster familiariy to create preference for your ideas, beliefs and more. (The exposure effect)
10. Disagreeable people are more likely to be “originals”
11. One should procastinate and leave tasks incomplete/interrupted to incubate better ideas and insights. (Zeigarnik effect, Martin Luther’s “I have a dream” speech and more as examples)
12. Creativity/Originality is a distillation of one’s personal knowledge and experiences. Seek new knowledge and experiences!
13. Being a pioneer is only advantageous when there are clear first-mover advantages (patented tehnology & strong network effects)
14. Practice experimental thinking which involves trial-and-error, thinking like a scientist, adapting and evolving constantly. (young geniuses- conceptual thinking & old masters- experimental thinking)
15. Regrets tend to be errors of comission instead of errors of omission. Just do it!
16. Foster a culture of radical transparency to combat the downsides of a strong culture (overconfidence & reputational concerns)
17. Have a mintority that hold authentic differing perspective to stimulate new perspectives and insights (they do not have to be correct to value-add)
18. Bring problems than solutions first. Solutions breeds a culture of advocacy while problems breeds a culture of inquiry.
19. When anxious or fearful, translate it to excitement instead of trying to be calm
20. To inspire others, outsource the task to those affected by the vision/message to convey authenticity
21. To have others bear risks, shift their risk preferences by emphasising on the guaranteed losses than gains due to the risk averse aspect of human nature
22. To influence others, present the gap between the present and potential reality as wide as possible
23. When facing with a wavering commitment issue, retrospect to the progress already made. It will be a waste to turn back!
24. Use method acting where we become the character/identity we want to be
25. Channel our anger to anger for others than anger at others
26. Take action if not the status quo will persist

Key Application

1. Stay Curious
2. Take action and not fear failure
3. Develop the right depth and breadth of experiences
4. Experience a different domain,culture, job and experiences
5. Practise inversion (The Sarick Effect)
6. Seek new knowledge and experiences
7. Be radically transparent
8. Persuade by explaining the gaps of reality to potential future
9. Persuade by outsourcing inspiration to the affected group
10. Create familiarity to radical/new ideas, values, beliefs and more (The Exposure Effect)

Reflection

This book by Adam Grant has dropped many nuggets of gold for me personally and I hope it has done the same for you. The key themes in the book are how individuals can generate, recognize, voice and champion new ideas. Secondly, how leaders can create a culture that unleashes originality. Lastly, how parents and teachers can aid their children to become original.

What one can do on an individual level

To be an original one has to constantly be curious and develop the right depth & breadth of knowledge, experience & skills. When it comes to thinking out of the box, it is important to expand one’s knowledge and experiences as creativity is a distillation of it. Furthermore, being experimental thinking where one undergoes rigorous trial-and-error, adaptation, changes and evolution.

When it comes to forming a team/finding individuals that are original, it is easier to find them in individuals who are more disagreeable compared to highly agreeable individuals.

However, non-conformists will find difficulty in speaking up as their ideas tend to be too radical for people to shift their current beliefs & understanding. Hence, speaking up freely requires one to be in a position to make decisions. Furthermore, it is necessary for them to have power and status so that their ideas/suggestions are seen to be more believable.

The book also shares how we should become the character we want to be. Hence, it is important to know what constructs our identity.

When it comes to anger, always be angry for others than at others.

As a leader building/improving an entity

For leaders, being original is insufficient. They have to unleash originality within the entity as well. For them to unleash it, they first have to ensure that they can speak up and make changes happen. To do so, they need to have power and status to be in control of the situation. This is followed by the ability to persuade, influence and inspire. To persuade, it is a good idea to argue against one’s own ideas to do the thinking for a hostile audience. (The Sarick Effect). To influence, it is important to foster familiarity (the exposure effect) in one’s values, beliefs, actions and more. In addition, it is important to be tempered radical where radical ideas are done and explained in a way that is not only familiar but moderate as well. Lastly, the best presentations that influenced many are those that elucidate the wide gap between the present and the potential future. To inspire others, it is important to outsource the task to the affected people as they exude authenticity when they share.

When it comes to building a strong culture, it is more important to look for cultural contribution than cultural fit. Other than ensuring the alignment in values in culture building, it is important to ensure there is radical transparency to promote divergent thinking and perspectives- combating overconfidence and groupthink. Adding on, the culture should promote expediting problems first than solutions to ensure it is a culture of inquiry than advocacy.