How to Grow into an
Original Person
Most
professors find the insight that leads to new books in pools of data, focus
groups, or controlled studies. Adam Grant, the young Wharton professor who made waves with his 2013 book, Give and
Take, got the idea for his latest volume in the real world. In a
recent interview, Grant told me that several years ago, he passed on an
opportunity to invest in Warby Parker, the wildly successful online
glasses retailer. Why? He didn’t recognize the potential and originality of the
company’s founders and their business model. “I study behavior for a living,
and I was still wildly wrong,” Grant said. “What can we learn from that?”
Grant’s
new book, Originals:
How Non-Conformists Move the World (Viking,
2016), is an investigation into the patterns of behavior that lead to
independent thought. In the book, Grant defines originality as the ability to
champion an idea that’s different from and better than others in its domain.
Because originals are the “individuals who fuel creativity and drive change in
the world,” it is vital to grasp what makes them tick. Originals delivers
on its promise. It reveals the key characteristics of originality and provides
useful suggestions for how to build capabilities in this area.
What’s most interesting about Grant’s
approach is the way he convincingly demonstrates that the path to originality
may lie along a different road than today’s conventional wisdom dictates.
Originals don’t need to be thrill-seeking
adrenaline junkies. Rather, he writes, they “are children who are the least
likely to become the teacher’s pet,” and who are able to advance their ideas by
playing “it safe instead of risking it all.” They thrive not by coming up with new
concepts, but by being able to discern which ones work best. “The biggest
barrier to originality is not idea generation — it’s idea selection,” he
writes. Rather than seek to work as isolated geniuses, originals need to
involve others. “The best way to get better at judging our ideas is to gather
feedback” from “fellow creators” who have “a lot of experience” in the relevant
domain. And when seeking responses, they should actively troll for pushback.
Originals get more valuable feedback and support from “disagreeable managers”
who have a “track record for challenging the status quo.”
The management literature is full of paeans
to the advantage that brash first-movers gain. But Grant notes that “the
advantages of acting quickly and being first are often outweighed by the
disadvantages.” In words that will be music to the ears of many, Grant argues
that strategic procrastination “can be a resource for creativity” and that
driving change requires waiting “patiently for the right moment.” Instead of
using the hard sell, originals, he notes, secure allies by delivering “a
moderately tempered message that is neither too hot nor to cold, but just
right” and placing more emphasis on “shared tactics” over “common goals.”
In words that will be music to the ears of many,
Adam Grant notes that strategic procrastination “can be a resource for
creativity”
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In the
book’s last chapter, Grant provides a list of practical actions people can take
to unleash original thought and action. There’s also an online quiz to test your knowledge. But although the list and
quiz are good refreshers, they are by no means comprehensive. And as you read
the book, you should be on the lookout for actions that resonate based on your
context and capabilities. For example, during our interview, Grant reflected on
his Warby Parker mistake and his research. In retrospect, Grant says, he would
have “spent more time learning about the founders and their motivations,” and
seeking the judgment of other creators who were knowledgeable about retail and
fashion, as well as about how to convince buyers to shift from bricks to
clicks. Had Grant done this homework, he would have learned that the founders
had a deep “history of challenging the status quo and a track record of going
against the grain,” that they “possessed a rich breadth and depth of
experiences” in various industries and functional disciplines, and had
well-thought-out solutions on how “to overcome objections to ordering glasses
online.”
Originals differs from Grant’s prior book, Give and
Take (Penguin, 2013), which had a relatively simple core message:
“givers” (people who are generous of spirit and good at collaborating) will do
much better than “takers,” given that “matchers” (those who balance taking and
giving). In Originals, Grant is quick to point out, there is
“no one grand theory” or “core organizing framework.” As a result, I found that
reading the book was like surfing waves of ideas, articulated through
captivating stories and backed up with plenty of research. Although it was
thoroughly enjoyable, it was easy to forget the preceding chapter once I became
engrossed in the next. With this realization, I started journaling my
reflections and have drafted a personalized development plan to increase my
originality and a list of potentially high-impact ideas to share with my
clients.
Although the journey to become more original
is a personal one, I asked Grant to share three ideas that he believes should
be in the “go bag” of most leaders. Here’s what he emphasized.
First, to avoid groupthink, defined as the
pressure “to conform to the dominant, default views instead of championing
diversity of thought,” leaders should hire for cultural contribution rather
than for cultural fit. You can hire for cultural contribution by “figuring out
what values are not adequately represented or missing from your culture” and
“assessing potential candidates for how they can improve the culture.”
Second, to avoid confirmation bias, defined
as seeking out information to support an existing preference, leaders must
unearth devil’s advocates in the organization rather than assign particular
individuals to play the role. In the book, Grant cites research that reveals that
devil’s advocates who are assigned are dismissed by their peers because
“they’re just playing a role” and “don’t argue forcefully” enough for the group
members “to take them seriously.” By contrast, finding people who really
believe “in the position they are representing,” is much more powerful.
“Genuine dissenters challenge people to doubt themselves,” as he puts it. To
unearth dissenters, Grant recommends “meeting with people one-on-one to find
out what they truly believe” and “inviting people who are silent into the
conversation.”
Third, leaders should “combat conformity” by
striving to make it easy for people to criticize leadership and by encouraging
people to disagree. Here, the behavior of those at the top sets an important
example. Grant recommends “voicing your own weaknesses” to encourage feedback
and “evaluating employees on how well they criticize upward.”
Grant is clearly an original. But he wasn’t
born that way. His ability to improve his originality over time is an
encouragement for all who wish to drive change in the world. “Years before I
started writing the book, I was a conformist,” he told me. “As a child, the
only time I was called into the principal’s office, I cried. I was the
teacher’s pet and worked to please my elders by following the rules.” Grant
views the book “as a culmination of a journey toward becoming more comfortable
championing new ideas.”
I
found Originals to be convincing. Before reading it, I
believed that originality was primarily a matter of nature, not nurture. Either
you were born an original or you weren’t. But engaging with Grant’s personal
journey and his research confirms for me that originality can be enhanced over
time. It turns out we are all originals-in-process.
Susan Cramm
http://www.strategy-business.com/blog/How-to-Grow-into-an-Original-Person?gko=f21c0
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