Think Again: Leadership Book Review

People see the ability to think and learn as the most crucial skill one can possess. But in the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world that we live in now, people, scientists and — more specifically — author Adam Grant believe we need to “think again.” 

Grant, a professor of organizational psychology at the Wharton School of Business, a #1 New York Times Bestselling author and a podcaster, has also written Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know. 

Grant’s premise is that there is another cognitive skill that is just as essential and most likely more important: The ability to rethink and unlearn. 

The author shares that we have a tendency to want to be comfortable in our thoughts. As a result, we tend to favor information that confirms our existing beliefs and ideas — in other words, confirmation bias. 

Grant believes that if someone confronts us with a different perspective than our own, we usually fall into one of three different mindsets: The preacher, prosecutor or politician. Each vigorously defends our stance but in different ways: 

• The preacher delivers sermons about why our sacred belief is the true and only one. 
• Then enters the prosecutor that finds the flaws in other people's reasoning and argues why their belief is wrong and unjust.
• Finally, you have the politician, where you seek to win over the audience through campaigning and lobbying. 

The problem with these mindsets is that we get so caught up in defending our beliefs that we don’t take into consideration that our ideas are old and need to be rethought or are just wrong. We are stuck in a fixed mindset; we are not open to others' ideas and are unwilling to learn. 

The main argument of Think Again, which is grounded in robust research and data, along with vivid, relevant stories, is that we should be in an open mindset of a scientist that is constantly looking for the correct answer. 

Scientists, after all, are not worried about being wrong now if it means being right in the end. The scientific mindset welcomes those that challenge thought processes because they understand that we learn more when challenged. 

Grant goes on to share that there are two types of beliefs we hold when it comes to confidence: the belief in self and the belief in your tools. He believes that to be in the right frame of mind to accept and learn from people who challenge our way of thinking, we should: 

“...be confident enough in your ability to achieve a goal in the future while maintaining the humility to question whether you have the right tools in the present.” 

That is what Grant calls the "sweet spot of confidence." 

These are just two takeaways explored from the numerous examples Grant considers that will give you a positive impact on shifting from thinking to Thinking Again — the new cognitive survival skill.