I have been following Adam Grant’s work for several years, primarily through his podcasts and interviews. I have listened to a lot of “Work Life” and more recently, “ReThinking”, which touches on some aspects related to his book. “Think Again” is the first book of his that I have read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This post is part of the series Learnings from books where my goal is to share what I learned from the book that I read. It is a mixture of review and summary with a bit of my opinion and point of view. But, as reviews, these learnings can say more about me than the book itself, so I trust that you the smart reader will take it with a grain of salt.
Learnings from the book Think Again
“Think Again” is a book by Adam Grant that challenges readers to rethink their beliefs, open their minds to new ideas, and embrace the power of intellectual humility. Grant, an organizational psychologist, and professor at the Wharton School, explores the importance of being open to changing our minds and how it can lead to personal and professional growth.
Think like a scientist
Approach your thinking like a scientist. Instead of immediately advocating, accusing, or politicking when forming an opinion, treat it as a tentative hypothesis and subject it to testing with data. By adopting the mindset of entrepreneurs who treat their business strategies as experiments, you’ll cultivate the flexibility to pivot and adapt as needed.
Focus on how and not why
Instead of focusing on the “why,” shift your attention to the “how.” When individuals explain the reasons behind their extreme views, they often reinforce their commitment and become more entrenched in their beliefs. However, when they delve into the practical aspects of implementing their views, they often recognize the limitations of their understanding and begin to moderate their opinions.
Disagreements are good
Embrace constructive conflict instead of avoiding it. Disagreements don’t have to be unpleasant. While conflict in relationships tends to be unproductive, task-related conflict can actually foster new thinking. Reframe disagreements as debates, encouraging people to approach them intellectually rather than personally, leading to more constructive outcomes.
Ask questions
By posing sincere inquiries, we leave others intrigued and eager to delve deeper into the subject. Our goal shouldn’t be to persuade them that we’re correct; rather, we aim to broaden their perspective by introducing the possibility that they could be mistaken. Their innate curiosity may then take over, leading them on a path of exploration and discovery.
By engaging in questioning instead of assuming the role of the sole thinker, we extend an invitation for the audience to become our partners in independent thought. If we treat an argument as a battle, it will inevitably result in winners and losers. However, if we view it as a dance, we can begin to collaborate and choreograph a path forward.
Be careful with preaching
When we engage in preaching, our minds are closed, and our sole focus becomes winning the argument or decision, leaving no room for reconsideration—only persuasion. It’s crucial to be mindful during discussions, assessing whether we genuinely maintain an open mind or if we’re merely trying to promote our own ideas. The danger lies in becoming so consumed with the conviction of our righteousness, the prosecution of others for being wrong, and the pursuit of support through political means that we neglect the vital process of reevaluating our own views.
Don’t accept what you read as true
When we encounter a story and embrace it as truth, we often neglect the act of questioning it. The key lies in interrogating ideas before embracing them and maintaining the willingness to continue questioning them even after acceptance. It is crucial to constantly pursue new information and seek stronger evidence, particularly evidence that challenges or contradicts our existing beliefs. The active pursuit of disconfirming evidence can lead to a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the world.
The worst about best practices
In performance cultures, people often develop strong attachments to best practices.
However, there is a risk associated with declaring a particular routine as the “best” because it tends to become fixed in time. We extol its virtues and cease questioning its flaws, losing our curiosity about its imperfections and potential for improvement.
Organizational learning should be an ongoing and dynamic process, but the concept of best practices implies that we have reached a final destination. Perhaps it would be more beneficial to shift our focus to seeking better practices instead.
Let go of the notion of best practices. The idea of best practices implies that we have already achieved the pinnacle of optimal routines. If our goal is to encourage people to continuously rethink the way they work, it would be more advantageous to embrace process accountability and consistently strive for better practices.
Life scheduled checkups
Make time for a life checkup. It’s easy to become trapped in a cycle of commitment to a path that no longer brings fulfillment. Just as you schedule regular health checkups with your doctor, it’s valuable to mark your calendar for a life checkup once or twice a year. This serves as an opportunity to evaluate how much you’re learning, how your beliefs and goals are evolving, and whether your next steps require some reevaluation.
Favorite quotes
These are my 5 favorite quotes from the book.
“We don’t just hesitate to rethink our answers. We hesitate at the very idea of rethinking.”
“Reconsidering something we believe deeply can threaten our identities, making it feel as if we’re losing a part of ourselves.”
“The less intelligent we are in a particular domain, the more we seem to overestimate our actual intelligence in that domain.”
“The goal is not to be wrong more often. It’s to recognize that we’re all wrong more often than we’d like to admit, and the more we deny it, the deeper the hole we dig for ourselves.”
“Changing your mind doesn’t make you a flip-flopper or a hypocrite. It means you were open to learning.”
These are my learnings from the book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know written by Adam Grant. A special thanks to Vancouver Public Library (VPL) for allowing access to the book for free.
Happy reading!
Liked this post? Check out other posts part of the series Learnings from books where my goal is to share what I learned from the book that I read. It is a mixture of review and summary with a bit of my opinion and point of view