Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Adam Grant titled his book: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, but that’s not exactly right. Here’s how he describes what it means to be original in this book. “Originality itself starts with creativity: generating a concept that is both novel and useful. But it doesn’t stop there. Originals are people who take the initiative to make their visions a reality.” The good news is that originality is not a fixed trait. Like many other things in life, you can develop your skills and get better over time. That’s what Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World is about. If you’re interested in being more original, or in making a contribution to the world, or in having a more satisfying life, this book will help you. The core of Originals is made up of eight chapters. Creative Destruction: The Risky Business of Going Against the Grain Blind Inventors and One-Eyed Investors: The Art and Science of Recognizing Original Ideas Out On a Limb: Speaking the Truth to Power Fools Rush In: Timing, Strategic Procrastination, and The First Mover Disadvantage Goldilocks and The Trojan Horse: Creating and Maintaining Coalitions Rebel With a Cause: How Siblings, Parents, and Mentors Nurture Originality Rethinking Groupthink: The Myths of Strong Cultures, Cults, and Devil’s Advocates Rocking The Boat and Keeping It Steady: Managing Anxiety, Apathy, Ambivalence, and Anger There’s also a section called “Actions for Impact.” It’s an excellent overview of the material in the book with good advice on how to put what you’ve read about into practice. Brand New Insights I identified two kinds of insights in the book. The first were, if you’ll pardon the expression, “Original.” Here are a few. I learned that a sense of security in one realm of life makes us able to take risks in another realm of life. Those risk-taking entrepreneurs aren’t risk-takers all the time. Instead, they and we maintain a kind of risk portfolio. That made perfect sense when I read it, but I’d never thought of things that way before. I found many insights in this book about judging and presenting ideas. I’ve spent most of my adult life as a writer and speaker, but the book produced several “aha!” moments. There are lots of insights on parenting. They’re the sort of thing I wish I had known decades ago. Now I plan to pass them on to my children who have children of their own. If you’re in business and looking for the people who can make your business go and grow there’s lots of good advice for you. Read about the hiring blueprints (professional, star, and commitment) and how they work (or don’t) in different situations. Insights that Deepened Understanding There are also lots of insights here that deepened my understanding. Grant describes things that match my experience, but by describing them and analyzing them, he added the “why” to make my experience and understanding richer. Here’s one example in a quote from the book. “Research demonstrates that it is the most creative children who are the least likely to become the teacher’s pet.” That was me. I was the kid that was always coming up with a new idea about how to do things, and I most definitely was not my teachers’ pets. After reading Originals I understood the situation better than before. Here’s another example. I’ve known for years that it wasn’t necessarily an advantage to be the first mover in an industry. What Grant added for me was some of the reasons why. A Small Quibble I only have a quibble with one part of the book, and it truly is a quibble, not a major issue. Grant describes how some originals procrastinate creatively. My quibble is that I don’t call what he describes “procrastination.” For me, “procrastination” is delaying something you should be doing right now. What Grant describes is a way of working. Here’s the quote where I pick my nit. "When we bemoan the lack of originality in the world, we blame it on the absence of creativity. If only people could generate more novel ideas, we’d all be better off. But in reality, the biggest barrier to originality is not idea generation— it’s idea selection." Actually, my experience and research say that often the problem occurs between idea generation and idea selection. People generate novel ideas all the time. What sets originals apart is that they’re good at capturing the ideas that they get. Ideas are like butterflies on the wind. If you don’t capture them, they’re gone in an instant. You have to capture ideas so you have a big pile of ideas to play with. The more you have the more likely you are to have an excellent idea and you increase the number of possible connections between ideas. When I start working on a project, I start capturing ideas as I get them, using my trusty voice recorder. The ideas wind up in a file in no particular order. Over time, the file grows and I start seeing some connections. When I’m ready to start concentrated work I have a lot of stuff that I can use. Often, I put the key ideas on index cards and move them around until they start to make sense. Or I write a “zero draft” to get more ideas and find out where I need research or clarification. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. I can’t see how to turn the ideas into writing. Then I consign them to my writing compost file. See my post, “Post or Compost” to see how that works. One More Thing There’s one more thing you should know. This book is a delight to read. The stories are mostly original and well-told. By original, I mean that they’re not the stories you see in just about every other business or self-help book. In addition, they’re supported by solid research, and many times the story that’s being told is the story of the research itself. This review appeared first on my Three Star Leadership blog.

In Originals, Adam Grant coalesces the fluidity of an experienced storyteller with the robustness of an academic research paper to craft an instructional manual for original thinkers. Creative chapter titles with action-focused subtitles highlight key concepts that the reader can collect throughout the book. For example, the chapter title “Goldilocks and the Trojan Horse” and subtitle “Creating and Maintaining Coalitions” preview Grant’s advice that originals who wish to create and maintain coalitions with others should moderate their radicalism (as would Goldilocks), enter established environments under the guise of moderation (concealing their true intentions like the Trojan Horse), and then gradually unleash their radical ideas from within the organization. Grant supports his unique perspectives with social science research from unusual environments. For example, Grant illustrates that intuition only aids in domains in which one is experienced by quoting Erik Dane’s study that experienced handbag owners were 22% more accurate at identifying real handbags in shorter time periods than in longer time periods. Grant illustrates his points using examples from creators such as Salzburg’s Mozart, companies such as America’s Warby Parker, activists such as Serbia’s Srđa Popović, and world institutions such as the Nobel Prize, indicating that his insights have widespread relevance. Originals’ valuable outline of contrarian success principles culminates in a 10-page section following the text entitled “Actions for Impact,” which provides 30 action steps categorized by use for individuals, leaders, parents, and teachers. Throughout Originals, Grant elucidates upon the processes and implementation behind individual innovative thinking while suggesting actions to promote an innovation-rich environment. His comments often reveal limitations of conventional thinking and justifications for his suggested actions. For example, Grant indicates that his failure to recognize the value of Warby Parker was a false negative (a false expectation of product failure when the product actually succeeds), leading him to recommend immense idea generation, seeking feedback from one’s peers, and industry research as action steps due to the broad perspective gained from these activities. Novel ideas discussed by Grant in this book include seeking quantity of insights over quality, challenging the status quo, collaboration as key to innovation, seeking security while waiting for the right time to implement an original idea, and remaining open-minded. Indeed, Originals provides a broad yet tactical guideline for success. Originals is not without its shortcomings. Most of Grant’s examples concern business and politics, limiting most of the book’s value to professionals in those domains. Similarly, Originals (like many of today’s popular business books) mainly focuses on American businesses while most of its few non-American examples highlight Europeans in the past 200 years, which eschews numerous centuries of rich examples from Asia, Africa, Oceania, and South America. In numerous chapters, Grant immerses the reader so deeply into anecdotes that he dilutes the impact of the chapter’s main point. Grant’s inconsistent use of graphics and tables throughout the book reduces the clarity of chapters without such supplemental aids. Grant largely supports his points with social science research, which often lack the validity of more rigorous natural science research. The book includes footnotes but lacks a list of supplementary literature for further reading. However, the depth of this book outweighs these downsides. Grant upends the reader’s traditional paradigms concerning “success” through his accessible and convincing writing. Originals is a highly recommended read for any individual who wishes to internalize and apply innovative thinking principles in any area of life.

Êtes-vous plutôt Chrome ou Internet Explorer ? Si vous avez fait l’effort de télécharger Chrome plutôt que de vous contenter de l’explorateur par défaut, vous avez une prédisposition pour l’originalité et la capacité à sortir des sentiers battus. Une prédisposition sans doute accentuée si vous êtes le dernier né de votre fratrie : ils ont plus le goût de risque et la volonté de se distinguer que leurs aînés ! D’autres découvertes surprenantes vous attendent à la lecture de cette étude psychologique et sociologique des originaux et autres rebelles. L’auteur utilise de nombreux exemples tirés de l’entreprise et du monde de l’éducation. Il montre notamment combien le poids du groupe fait taire les originaux et prive le groupe de solutions créatives, voire le conduit à des échecs cuisants. L’ouvrage est riche d’enseignements sur la prise de risque : les personnalités originales se caractérisent par leur facilité à oser. Pour les autres, quelques principes simples permettent de prendre des risques mesurés et de faire face à la peur. Reconnaître sa peur et se préparer au pire est finalement plus efficace que de chercher à se rassurer. Cet ouvrage bouscule nos idées reçues et nous incite à changer nos comportements, tant au travail qu’en famille. Il s’appuie sur des études et des exemples précis, tout en étant passionnant à lire !

Grant continues to highlighs the characteristics of the business leaders. the book reviews the different aspects of the Non-Conformists behavious and traits. As in his other books, Grant's style of writing makes the journey with the book very enjoyable.

This is a very good read, particularly if you’re willing to make use of the wisdom, to take action. I liked the chapter about procrastination, it made me consider the benefits of procrastination. I’ll no longer see procrastination as something negative, but something that can actually be beneficial to the development of innovation and ideation.

.. and full of interesting hints also outside originality