Book of The Week ; Think Again by Adam Grant

What do the books with impact look like? I have been keen for answer. Everyone is looking for shortcuts, why not read one or few and get all the answers. The books with maximum information would fit the criterion. But there is so much information out there. Or the book that covers so many areas , synthesizes arts and sciences , dashed with history (Hint ; Harari). But you read a book, and are impressed by the writer’s knowledge. Then what ?

Thinking is behind everything we do, every opinion we hold, every decisions we make and every step we take. Any book that can help improving thinking will be the one having most impact, I think. And how would improvement come? Do we need improvement, If we are always right. But are we right always just about right and wrong, it is more about the HOW part. How to think when faced with decision of career or marriage or sending children to school, or environment or gun laws. How to keep on reviewing our thinking on the things we hold so dear, or the issues that are crucial or the steps that are necessary ?

Adam Grant, an Organisation psychologist at Wharton has the answer. THINK AGAIN is the idea and the book. The journey of thinking again begins with identity. Not the identity in terms of race or belief but in terms of learning. To think again, do not think like a prosecutor who is always finding faults or the preacher who is always showing the bright picture, not even the manipulation and management of politician. Think like a scientist; think with values of humility and curiosity and do not get too attached to opinions. Confirmation bias, eco-chamber and filter bubbles are now the modern day trap. Seek information that goes against your views and follow those whom you disagree but who make you think.

All these things are easier said than done especially if we also happen to be accomplished in some field. Our confidence sky rockets and the competence is left behind or is in opposite direction. This is famously called as Dunning-Krueger effect and people suffering from that perch themselves on place Grant calls ‘Mount Stupid’. He introduces this nuanced concept called ‘confident humility’. Those in confident humility zone know their strengths realistically but have the desire and joy to be proven wrong. They know that they don’t know everything and only way to know more is by being wrong.

Learning is thus another name of thinking again. You can learn more by asking and not telling all the time. This is accomplished by being in network of challengers and not cheerleaders. Those on mount stupid have only sycophants or sympathizers around them. When you have people with opposite views, there will be conflict. Adam Grant deftly divides conflict into ‘Task Conflict’ and ‘Personal conflict’. The former are preferable and later to be avoided. In this ‘interpersonal thinking again’ section, my favorite takeaway is question-statement ratio. If you are telling more than asking then you have a problem, as I do. Then keep asking you self and your counterparts, “what evidence will change your mind?”, and try to find how people formed their opinions. That is a place where the solutions are. The disagreements will always be around so we should always remember that the disagreements are dances, not battles-another great analogy in the book.

The most crucial test of changing mind is in two life changing areas, education and career. As per Adam Grant, in both, most societies are stuck in tunnel vision. Education is the regurgitation of facts and dissemination of a single reality in every subject. Education should be about busting myths and locating multiple realities. This can be done by asking questions, applying knowledge and challenging assumptions. Career is another aspect of life governed by fixed assumptions. The first step is to stop asking your kids what they want to be when they grow up. This is like fixing one identity on them besides ignoring the uncertainty that future has in store for them. Not only life career is a thing of past but ten/fifteen year plans are also a trap. What I liked most in discussion most was about the exaggerated prominence of happiness. In Grant’s words ‘joy can wax and wane but meaning is more likely to last. Then while being committed in an unfulfilling path, be it career or other life choices , schedule a life checkup, not emotionally but rationally , just as we have periodic health checkups.

In the scheme of book, the third part after the individual and inter-personal thinking is collecting re-think. Collective re-think starts with acknowledging the complexity and the identifying what Grant calls Caveat and contingencies. What we see on the other hand all round us is over-simplification of complex issues which naturally translates into polarization and heightened emotions. Emotional intelligence is another area briefly touched. The lesson is to have broad set of emotions including ambivalence and confusion.

The book has a sweeping brush but makes something that is so rare, i.e making sense. Above everything, it makes you think, and think again.

Happy Reading.