Adam Grant | Inside the Mind of Wharton’s Top-Rated Professor

I love the lessons Adam shared:

First, we should be careful about listening to other people’s advice because they can only tell us what’s worked for them, and it may or may not apply to us. Adam learned this lesson accidentally from his mom who told him to not be a professor.

Second, it’s common for people to think that the best thing they can do for the world is achieve success and then give back. But Adam thinks that’s backward. It’s through helping other people that we often achieve our greatest success.

And finally, sometimes we don’t really appreciate the lessons people share with us until we’ve made the same mistakes they’re warning us about. Adam’s mentor warned him that the danger of loving his work is that he might end up working all the time. It wasn’t until Adam had a child, and was feeling a sense of compulsive workaholism on Saturday mornings, that he was able to step back and recalibrate his priorities.

In summary, listen skeptically. But do listen.

It’s a simple idea. Please take it seriously.