[Book 2] Think Again by Adam Grant

Think Again identifies and remedies the growing problem of polarization in our society (and ourselves). Extending well beyond politics, I learned the shortcomings of the inflexibility inherent in becoming rooted in strongly held beliefs. Adam taught me how effective leaders simultaneously hold a current level of conviction and have an openness to be convinced of new approaches. He also provides several strategies to broaden idea receptivity and how to work with narrow minded colleague and leaders.

You should read this book if you…

• want to be a more nimble and approachable leader
• ever struggle convincing someone else with a strong viewpoint to see your side of the story
• want to foster a culture that encourages open disagreement, but in a productive way

Additional Information

Year Published: 2021
Book Ranking (from 1-10): 10 – Superb – Changed the way I live my life
Ease of Read (from 1-5): 3 – Average

Key Highlights

1. Rethinking helps us let go of ideas that aren’t serving us well and can pivot our anchor from consistency to flexibility, creating more learning pathways
2. Three P’s: Preacher – protect and promote our beliefs, Prosecutor – going after weaknesses in other’s reasoning, Politician – lobby for approval of our beliefs. None of these pathways allow us to rethink our own views
3. We celebrate leaders for being strong minded – as paragons of conviction. Yet the best strategies are when you’re slow and unsure, taking the time with the flexibility to change their minds to support the emerging facts
4. Thinking like a scientist involves more than just reacting with an open mind. It means being actively open-minded. It requires searching for reasons why we might be wrong—not for reasons why we must be right—and revising our views based on what we learn
5. Humility is often misunderstood. It’s not a matter of having low self-confidence. Confidence is a measure of how much you believe in yourself. You can be confident in your ability to achieve a goal in the future while maintaining the humility to question whether you have the right tools in the present. That’s the sweet spot of confidence
6. There’s evidence that disagreeable people speak up more frequently—especially when leaders aren’t receptive—and foster more task conflict
7. When negotiating, only bring your best points. It’s easy to lose ground by being attacked to the weakness of your least compelling reason
8. When someone becomes hostile, if you respond by viewing the argument as a war, you can either attack or retreat. If instead you treat it as a dance, you have another option—you can sidestep. Having a conversation about the conversation shifts attention away from the substance of the disagreement and toward the process for having a dialogue. The more anger and hostility the other person expresses, the more curiosity and interest you show. When someone is losing control, your tranquility is a sign of strength 
9. Many communicators try to make themselves look smart. Great listeners are more interested in making their audiences feel smart. They help people approach their own views with more humility, doubt, and curiosity. When people have a chance to express themselves out loud, they often discover new thoughts
10. An antidote to the binary bias is complexifying: showcasing the range of perspectives on a given topic. We might believe we’re making progress by discussing hot-button issues as two sides of a coin, but people are actually more inclined to think again if we present these topics through the many lenses of a prism
11. By admitting some of their imperfections out loud, managers demonstrated that they could take it—and made a public commitment to remain open to feedback. They normalized vulnerability, making their teams more comfortable opening up about their own struggles. Their employees gave more useful feedback because they knew where their managers were working to grow
12. Requiring proof is an enemy of progress. This is why companies like Amazon use a principle of disagree and commit. As Jeff Bezos explained it in an annual shareholder letter, instead of demanding convincing results, experiments start with asking people to make bets. “Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it?” The goal in a learning culture is to welcome these kinds of experiments, to make rethinking so familiar that it becomes routine
13. She finds that as people consider career choices and transitions, it helps to think like scientists. A first step is to entertain possible selves: identify some people you admire within or outside your field, and observe what they actually do at work day by day. A second step is to develop hypotheses about how these paths might align with your own interests, skills, and values. A third step is to test out the different identities by running experiments: do informational interviews, job shadowing, and sample projects to get a taste of the work. The goal is not to confirm a particular plan but to expand your repertoire of possible selves—which keeps you open to rethinking
14. Psychologists find that passions are often developed, not discovered. Interest doesn’t always lead to effort and skill; sometimes it follows them. By investing in learning and problem solving, we can develop our passions—and build the skills necessary to do the work and lead the lives we find worthwhile