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on February 3, 2016
It took me a while to get around to Adam Grant's first book, Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success, but it turned out to be life-changing. Now I tell everyone about it and even host a monthly free favor exchange event based on its principles. So I was stoked to get my hands on "Originals." Besides being an enjoyable read, full of insider case studies of true revolutionaries, it's also a life-affirming book for all the creative folks out there who think they're just not good enough to go big.
For example, Grant makes the case for the upside of procrastination. Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci didn't get his big break till his mid-40s and was a world-class procrastinator, tinkering with the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper for over 15 years? Or that Martin Luther King Jr didn't write his "I have a dream" speech until the night before, and then winged its most memorable parts?
All these stories make the business of originality not the domain of the chosen, but something more human and approachable. Steve Wozniak had to be pried away from his job at HP with a crowbar to co-found Apple. Larry Page and Sergey Brin head the highest-valued company in the world because they failed at selling Google for $2M early on. These were not prescient demigods but people who made good and bad decisions just like us.
Grant is a master at telling these stories of Promethean feats, sound judgment and serendipity, extracting from them the essence that we can apply to our own lives. One example: when starting a new venture, hedging your bets with a real job actually works better than dropping everything and going full cowboy.
One dissonant note about the book was that although it ostensibly talks about non-conformists, its case studies mostly cover conformists who deviated from the norm by a little, but otherwise followed conventional paths and then got stupendously lucky. For example, "Seinfeld", for all its originality, followed the hoary 22-min TV sitcom format, and once it caught on, leaned on the same characters and formulas for years. (I would nominate "Key & Peele" as a much better study in non-conformity.) The Google guys went to grad school, raised venture capital, and had no revenue model for years -- a story told in Silicon Valley a thousand times.
To succeed, your idea has to be discrepant enough to be perceived as original, but not so discrepant as to weird people out -- and then you have to get lucky. Nonconformists only change the world when the world is ready for them, or when they have a devoted and powerful champion. Otherwise, the story of most true non-conformists is one of failure. Those unsung geniuses either never show up in books at all, or are only heard about after death (e.g. Vincent van Gogh).
Grant meticulously presents hundreds of results from the scientific literature to illuminate the narrative. I particularly enjoyed the immediately usable counterintuitive tidbits peppering whole book (eg starting a pitch with "why you shouldn't invest in us"). For entrepreneurs, creative folks of all stripe, and those interested in fomenting revolution, this is an essential handbook for applying your gifts to the world.
-- Ali Binazir, M.D., M.Phil, author of The Tao of Dating: The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible, the #1-rated dating book on Amazon
For example, Grant makes the case for the upside of procrastination. Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci didn't get his big break till his mid-40s and was a world-class procrastinator, tinkering with the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper for over 15 years? Or that Martin Luther King Jr didn't write his "I have a dream" speech until the night before, and then winged its most memorable parts?
All these stories make the business of originality not the domain of the chosen, but something more human and approachable. Steve Wozniak had to be pried away from his job at HP with a crowbar to co-found Apple. Larry Page and Sergey Brin head the highest-valued company in the world because they failed at selling Google for $2M early on. These were not prescient demigods but people who made good and bad decisions just like us.
Grant is a master at telling these stories of Promethean feats, sound judgment and serendipity, extracting from them the essence that we can apply to our own lives. One example: when starting a new venture, hedging your bets with a real job actually works better than dropping everything and going full cowboy.
One dissonant note about the book was that although it ostensibly talks about non-conformists, its case studies mostly cover conformists who deviated from the norm by a little, but otherwise followed conventional paths and then got stupendously lucky. For example, "Seinfeld", for all its originality, followed the hoary 22-min TV sitcom format, and once it caught on, leaned on the same characters and formulas for years. (I would nominate "Key & Peele" as a much better study in non-conformity.) The Google guys went to grad school, raised venture capital, and had no revenue model for years -- a story told in Silicon Valley a thousand times.
To succeed, your idea has to be discrepant enough to be perceived as original, but not so discrepant as to weird people out -- and then you have to get lucky. Nonconformists only change the world when the world is ready for them, or when they have a devoted and powerful champion. Otherwise, the story of most true non-conformists is one of failure. Those unsung geniuses either never show up in books at all, or are only heard about after death (e.g. Vincent van Gogh).
Grant meticulously presents hundreds of results from the scientific literature to illuminate the narrative. I particularly enjoyed the immediately usable counterintuitive tidbits peppering whole book (eg starting a pitch with "why you shouldn't invest in us"). For entrepreneurs, creative folks of all stripe, and those interested in fomenting revolution, this is an essential handbook for applying your gifts to the world.
-- Ali Binazir, M.D., M.Phil, author of The Tao of Dating: The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible, the #1-rated dating book on Amazon
on February 16, 2016
My personal bias—I love the work that Adam Grant does. So, read no further if that bothers you about my objectivity as a reviewer. Grant, a young, uber-smart and engaging professor at Wharton, might just be the latter-day Peter Drucker, only much cooler! In Originals, Grant teaches us how to develop new ideas and how to vet them; how to pitch those ideas to others; when to trust our gut and when not to; the difference between power and status and so much more! He also busts some interesting myths like how successful entrepreneurs are not hyper-risk takers—rather, they hedge their bets; how the creative problem solvers are often not experts in their fields; and, how procrastination can be your friend—every writer in the world should now rejoice! Grant uses academic studies, stats and stories from unexpected places to punctuate a well-orchestrated text. For example, he tells about how the show “Seinfeld” barely made it to TV and how it took a very special NBC executive with broad, varied experience to have the courage to put his reputation on the line. And as a huge Seinfeld fan, I personally salute him! Finally, I would encourage you to read Sheryl Sandberg’s foreword, because not only does she do a very good overview of the book while praising the author for his talent, but she also praises Grant for his empathetic heart. When Sandberg’s husband suddenly died, Grant dropped what he was doing and flew across the country to be with her in her darkest hours. Grant, like his book, is an Original!
on April 17, 2016
The most incredible book I have read in a year. Adam Grant is one of few modern-day prolific thinkers and writers. His revolutionary ideas are supported by both modern research and practical application. Only read this book if you are ready for a cosmic shift in your ideas about business, entrepreneurs, and successful motivations. While you are at it, pick up his book Give and Take about relationships in all facets of life. I could not be more impressed or in awe of Adam Grant's educated and ground-breaking message. My only hope is that more business leaders incorporate Grant's ideas into their mission/vision.
on April 19, 2017
This book is full of interesting and useful ideas on creativity, innovation, and management. The author draws from the findings of a great deal of academic research, which is very useful. He is, nevertheless, brief in explaining how the experiments have been carried out by his fellow academics. In presenting the findings as given, he allows little room for readers to judge for themselves the limitations, or validity, of the quoted findings. I also find the writing to lose focus at times.
The book is written in plain English, which is easy and enjoyable to read. It is recommended for readers in general.
The book is written in plain English, which is easy and enjoyable to read. It is recommended for readers in general.
on April 22, 2016
It's been a long time since I've read a book that captured me like Originals. Filled with amazing, myth-busting information about the how & why of out-of-the-box thinking along with true stories and fascinating facts, I underlined and highlighted much of the book and then made my own version of Cliff notes to share with my friends (almost all of whom are non-fiction self-help authors and business owners) Below is a taste of what I found interesting and useful.
The Rule of Winning Headlines: you need to generate at least 25 before you strike gold…first ideas are usually the most conventional, once you get desperate, you start thinking out of the box.
Artistic hobbies are super important – Nobel Prize winners who were also writers of poetry, plays, novels, short stories or popular books have a 12x greater chance of winning the prize….those that are amateur actors, dancers or magicians has 22x greater chance!
Our intuition is only accurate in domains where we have a lot of experience – which is why Steve Jobs got it all wrong about the Segway. Non-experts make sounder judgments when they conduct a thorough analysis.
The best customer service agents use Chrome or Firefox not Safari or Internet Explorer – why and how this makes a huge difference in their performance and longevity at a company.
Why and when accentuating the flaws and limitations in your ideas gets the best results (and investors!)
It takes 10 -20 exposures to a new complex idea to make an impact…its very hard to oversaturate…keep dripping it into conversations every few days.
The awesome benefits of procrastinating…and in may situations procrastination is conducive to originality….in one company proposals from procrastinators were 28 percent more creative. In ancient Egypt there were two verbs for procrastination: one denotes laziness the other meant waiting for the right time.
Genius is uncontrollable. You cannot produce a work of genius according to a schedule or an outline. Da Vinci started the Mona Lisa I 1503 but didn’t finish it until 1519! Procrastination can be a form of incubation. In the middle of brainstorming – stop for several hours and do something else – even if its video games and when you come back, new better, ideas emerge.
Section on The Positive Power of Negative Thinking – strategic optimists anticipate the best, staying calm and setting high expectations. Defensive pessimists expect the worst, feeling anxious and imagining all the things that can go wrong. BOTH PERFORM equally well!!
People who take the time to live in different countries are more creative which leads to more success….
Picture yourself as the enemy and create “urgency” by dreaming up ways with your team to “kill the company” or decimate a product then hold a discussion on how to convert most serious threats into opportunities.
The Rule of Winning Headlines: you need to generate at least 25 before you strike gold…first ideas are usually the most conventional, once you get desperate, you start thinking out of the box.
Artistic hobbies are super important – Nobel Prize winners who were also writers of poetry, plays, novels, short stories or popular books have a 12x greater chance of winning the prize….those that are amateur actors, dancers or magicians has 22x greater chance!
Our intuition is only accurate in domains where we have a lot of experience – which is why Steve Jobs got it all wrong about the Segway. Non-experts make sounder judgments when they conduct a thorough analysis.
The best customer service agents use Chrome or Firefox not Safari or Internet Explorer – why and how this makes a huge difference in their performance and longevity at a company.
Why and when accentuating the flaws and limitations in your ideas gets the best results (and investors!)
It takes 10 -20 exposures to a new complex idea to make an impact…its very hard to oversaturate…keep dripping it into conversations every few days.
The awesome benefits of procrastinating…and in may situations procrastination is conducive to originality….in one company proposals from procrastinators were 28 percent more creative. In ancient Egypt there were two verbs for procrastination: one denotes laziness the other meant waiting for the right time.
Genius is uncontrollable. You cannot produce a work of genius according to a schedule or an outline. Da Vinci started the Mona Lisa I 1503 but didn’t finish it until 1519! Procrastination can be a form of incubation. In the middle of brainstorming – stop for several hours and do something else – even if its video games and when you come back, new better, ideas emerge.
Section on The Positive Power of Negative Thinking – strategic optimists anticipate the best, staying calm and setting high expectations. Defensive pessimists expect the worst, feeling anxious and imagining all the things that can go wrong. BOTH PERFORM equally well!!
People who take the time to live in different countries are more creative which leads to more success….
Picture yourself as the enemy and create “urgency” by dreaming up ways with your team to “kill the company” or decimate a product then hold a discussion on how to convert most serious threats into opportunities.
Being Original is not about avoiding mistakes, its about embracing them... experiment, collaborate, learn, apply, share
on March 25, 2017
Listened to the Audible version and took notes in this paperback version!! (Sorry Amazon, can't sell this one back to you as a used copy... will always be a used copy...)
Originals is must read for understanding new approaches to problem solving, creating coalitions, lasting alliances and harnessing the power of previously learned from mistakes as well as accomplishments in order to approach future challenges and opportunities in new and unique ways without having to recreate the wheel, being Original is about using the wheel you know differently
Originals is must read for understanding new approaches to problem solving, creating coalitions, lasting alliances and harnessing the power of previously learned from mistakes as well as accomplishments in order to approach future challenges and opportunities in new and unique ways without having to recreate the wheel, being Original is about using the wheel you know differently
on August 7, 2016
I was really excited after Adam Grant's TED talk on originals. The book unfolded quite splendidly but took a dull turn midway through the end.
I found several concepts quite riveting: tempered radicals, experimental innovators, deep acting, birth-order effect, Zeigarnik effect and the Sarick effect. These have all nourished my knowledge towards healthier questions.
I took away a quote from George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
Adam's portrayal of originals is well written, but I found it incomplete. The search continues :)
I found several concepts quite riveting: tempered radicals, experimental innovators, deep acting, birth-order effect, Zeigarnik effect and the Sarick effect. These have all nourished my knowledge towards healthier questions.
I took away a quote from George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
Adam's portrayal of originals is well written, but I found it incomplete. The search continues :)
on March 15, 2017
I grabbed this book due to a recommendation from an acquaintance. I have not even been able to make it past page 30 and I have been reading it for about two weeks. This is one of the least engaging books I have read. The examples have been redundant and the book has seemed more to be a reflection of "the startup that got away" than anything truly about originals. I have REALLY wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, I often find myself subconsciously grabbing for any other book in my reach.
on September 11, 2016
As a psychoanalyst, I have immensely enjoyed Adam Grant's book. It is well written, well researched and constantly thought provoking, whether I find myself agreeing with him and coming up with examples from either my patient population or research that he has surprisingly missed (the literature on disorganized attachment links beautifully with the stress caused by inconsistent bosses), or strenuously disagreeing about some of the construct validity in the research he cites. Practicing what is called "integrative psychoanalysis", I have shared some of the stories he provides with my patients and encouraged them to use some of the techniques he highlights in their daily lives (after appropriate "exploration" :-)) and I have welcomed a different way to look and think of issues that come up in sessions, while holding all theories lightly. As Grant himself would advocate, cross fertilization between fields spur creativity, and I have found Grant's book a very fertile ground indeed.
