We build stories to support the decisions we take. Quite often, we back these stories up with arguments what we call ‘common knowledge’, and which are actually a set of assumptions and myths taken as true merely due to the amount of people supporting them. Adam Grant invites these assumptions onto the stage, one by one, questions their validity and then masterfully busts them with logical arguments and data. Suddenly, stories we believed to be true, which dutifully served as reasons and explanations for our inactions, limiting beliefs and failures, are wrong. Where does this leave us?
Why read Originals?
Adam Grant’s Originals is an empowering book in many ways. It combats the ‘truths’, the ‘reasons’ why some people are successful creatives, entrepreneurs, and influencers and shows us, people like you and me, that the qualities and circumstances we believed to be a prerequisite for achieving certain goals, are actually unimportant or even disempowering.
Two busted assumptions – teaser
1. Child prodigies will grow up to “make a dent in the universe”
One of the first myths that Grant tackles is the belief that the children who show signs of above-average IQs early on, will grow up to change the world and come to be among the most notable of beings. Longitudinal studies combat this theory. As Grant notes, these children become indeed very good at what they do, they are indeed at the top of their game however, they rarely become the innovators we might expect to see later.
These kids are too busy to study, apply and practice already existing knowledge to dedicate themselves to revolutionising a domain, advancing and solving a problem, approaching an issue from a new perspective as opposed to following a well-beaten path to the previously-created solution.
The children who become innovators are those who experiment, who abandon the beaten path, who forget the “traditional recipes” and build the “fusion” alternatives.
Practice makes perfect, but it doesn’t make new. – Adam Grant
2. Don’t procrastinate – “acting early is the key to success”
We are taught from a young age that we ought to start early our homework, work, tasks, whatever it is that we need to do. A common saying advises us not to “leave for tomorrow what can be done today”. The internet is cluttered with tools, courses, books and discussions about how to become more efficient, how to increase productivity and how to ban procrastination from your life. And yet, this is one of the myths that Adam Grant chooses to bust.
Yes, starting and finishing early any tasks that involve repetitive, unimaginative processes is a good idea. However when it comes to any activities involving creativity, whether that’s writing, designing, creating a presentation, suggesting a novel solution… research shows these tasks are better carried out by procrastinators. When someone completes a project, a task, they put it out of their mind, it’s done and over.
Another upside for putting off creative work is the fact that it leaves us open to improvisation. Martin Luther Kind finished writing his famous speech, ‘I have a dream’, minutes before going onto the stage, and the forever remembered words, the title of his speech, were never even scribbled onto the paper in the first place!
Originals – Side effects
Adam Grant is one of the 100 most creative people in business, a Fortune’s 40 under 40 and one of the world’s 25 most influential management thinkers. Adam has a PhD in organisation psychology. His research has been mentioned in bestselling books, including Malcolm Gladwell’s David & Goliath.
