1장
Challenging the Status Quo: The Power of Originality
Ever wondered why some people manage to change the world while others merely accept it as it is? In Adam Grant's groundbreaking book "Originals," we discover that the capacity for original thinking isn't reserved for a select few geniuses-it's available to anyone willing to challenge defaults and take calculated risks. This New York Times bestseller has captivated readers from Silicon Valley executives to creative professionals, with figures like Sheryl Sandberg calling it "one of the most important and captivating books I have ever read." When Elon Musk cited it as influencing SpaceX's culture of innovation, sales surged 800% overnight. Perhaps most surprisingly, Grant himself wrote much of the book while procrastinating on other projects-proving one of his central arguments that strategic delay can enhance creativity. As we explore how nonconformists move the world, you'll discover that becoming original isn't about being reckless or fearless, but about making the choice to champion new ideas that improve the world around us.
2장
The Surprising Truth About Risk-Taking and Originality
When we think of originals-those who challenge conventions and champion novel ideas-we typically imagine natural-born risk-takers who fearlessly bet everything on their vision. The reality couldn't be more different. The founders of Warby Parker, who revolutionized the eyewear industry by selling fashionable glasses online for $95 instead of $500, weren't reckless entrepreneurs. They hedged their bets by keeping their day jobs, staying in school, and lining up backup employment options while testing their business model.
This pattern of calculated risk-taking appears consistently among successful innovators. Phil Knight sold shoes from his car trunk while working as an accountant before Nike became a global brand. Steve Wozniak stayed at Hewlett-Packard for a year after co-founding Apple. Google's founders tried selling their search engine because they worried about dropping out of their PhD program. Filmmaker Ava DuVernay directed on weekends while working in publicity, musician Brian May completed his astrophysics PhD while playing in Queen, and Stephen King wrote in a laundry room after teaching English all day.
The most successful originals manage risk like a diversified stock portfolio-they take extreme risks in one domain while remaining extraordinarily cautious in others. Sara Blakely invested her $5,000 savings in creating Spanx while keeping her fax machine sales job for two years. Henry Ford worked for Thomas Edison while developing automotive inventions on the side. Even Bill Gates, famous for "dropping out," actually took a formal leave of absence from Harvard with his parents' financial backing.
Research consistently shows entrepreneurs aren't risk-lovers. In one study, entrepreneurs were significantly more likely than others to choose business ventures with the highest probability of success rather than those with potentially larger payoffs but greater risk. Successful entrepreneurs often broke rules as teenagers but took calculated risks-skipping school or drinking alcohol rather than driving drunk or buying illegal drugs.
The key insight is that originality isn't about recklessness but about refusing to accept defaults. Most people live in what researchers call an "Internet Explorer world," accepting whatever comes pre-installed in their lives. A fascinating study revealed that customer service employees who used Firefox or Chrome browsers stayed in their jobs 15% longer and performed better than those using Internet Explorer or Safari. This wasn't about technical skill but initiative-Firefox and Chrome users had to download these browsers rather than accept defaults, reflecting their approach to life and work.
Rejecting defaults begins with curiosity-experiencing what Grant calls "vuja de," seeing familiar situations with fresh perspective, as Warby Parker's founders did when questioning why glasses cost more than smartphones. By challenging assumptions rather than accepting them, anyone can begin the journey toward originality.
3장
The Art of Selecting Winning Ideas
The biggest barrier to originality isn't generating ideas but selecting the right ones. Even experts consistently fail at predicting which ideas will succeed. Tech luminaries like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos wrongly predicted the Segway would transform transportation, while television executives initially rejected Seinfeld, which became one of the greatest shows in history.
Why do we struggle to evaluate creative concepts? For creators themselves, overconfidence is a major obstacle. Research by Justin Berg shows creators consistently overrate their own work compared to managers with more distance. Even geniuses like Beethoven frequently misjudged which of their compositions would become classics, with a 33% error rate when evaluating his own work.
The key to originality isn't producing qualitatively better ideas but generating a larger volume. Edison's 1,093 patents yielded only a handful of truly exceptional inventions. As Stanford professor Robert Sutton notes, "Original thinkers will come up with many ideas that are strange mutations, dead ends, and utter failures," but this generates a larger pool from which novel ideas emerge. At Upworthy, staff must generate at least 25 headline ideas to find one that resonates-our first ideas are usually the most conventional.
Managers and test audiences consistently fail to recognize original ideas, comparing novelty against established templates. When NBC executives first saw Seinfeld, they found it "totally unconventional" with "no historical precedent." Similar rejections have plagued countless hits from Star Wars to Harry Potter. Expertise can become a liability-research shows that experts become entrenched in particular viewpoints, struggling to adapt to new paradigms.
The most accurate judges of creative ideas turn out to be fellow creators, who are twice as accurate as managers in predicting success. Rick Ludwin's unique position as someone with deep comedy experience but no sitcom development background proved invaluable for Seinfeld. His time writing jokes for Bob Hope gave him necessary expertise, while his outsider perspective prevented him from being blinded by sitcom conventions.
This combination of domain knowledge with broad perspective makes people uniquely receptive to radical creativity. Nobel Prize-winning scientists were dramatically more likely than ordinary scientists to engage in artistic pursuits-22 times more likely to perform as amateur actors or dancers, 12 times more likely to write creatively. Similarly, entrepreneurs and inventors tend to have artistic hobbies. This breadth of experience proves crucial for originality, as demonstrated by Galileo, who detected mountains on the moon that others missed thanks to his artistic training.
To improve idea selection, we must look beyond whether people have been successful to examine how they've succeeded. The Warby Parker founders had the right combination of depth and breadth-three wore glasses themselves, and Neil Blumenthal had worked teaching women to sell eyeglasses in developing countries, giving him industry knowledge without conventional constraints. Rather than assuming their idea would work, they sought extensive feedback, testing different price points and website designs.
4장
Speaking Truth to Power: How to Champion New Ideas
Speaking up with original ideas often gets penalized-employees who frequently voice suggestions upward are less likely to receive raises and promotions. CIA analyst Carmen Medina discovered this when she proposed publishing intelligence findings instantaneously over the classified internet rather than through slow, siloed daily reports. Her colleagues immediately rejected the idea, arguing electronic communications weren't secure, and she faced increasing isolation.
When people attempt to influence others without having earned respect, they're perceived as difficult and self-serving. This creates a vicious cycle: feeling disrespected leads to increasingly aggressive behavior. For her second attempt at change, Medina strategically earned status by working within the system, taking a conservative job in information security that gave her "top cover" while allowing her to plant seeds for digital transformation.
Counterintuitively, leading with weaknesses can make original ideas more persuasive. When Rufus Griscom pitched his parenting website Babble to investors, he presented a slide listing the top five reasons not to invest in his business. This approach helped secure $3.3 million in funding. Two years later, when selling Babble to Disney, he again highlighted weaknesses, and Disney bought the company for $40 million.
This "Sarick Effect" works because leading with weaknesses disarms skeptical audiences. Research confirms that reviewers using critical language were perceived as 14% more intelligent and 16% more expert than those using positive language. Being upfront about weaknesses makes you appear more trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When presenting original ideas, we often undercommunicate because we can't imagine how our ideas sound to others hearing them for the first time. It's like tapping out a familiar song-while we hear the full melody in our heads, listeners hear only disconnected taps. In studies, tappers predicted a 50% recognition rate, but actual listeners guessed correctly only 2.5% of the time. This explains why change agents typically undercommunicate their visions by a factor of ten.
The solution lies in the "mere exposure effect"-the more we encounter something, the more we like it. Research shows that liking increases with 10-20 exposures, especially when they're short, mixed with other ideas, and followed by delays for processing.
Speaking up presents unique challenges for women in male-dominated organizations. Research shows persistent gender biases where women are expected to be communal rather than assertive. When women voice new revenue-generating ideas, they don't receive the same performance evaluation boosts as men. For Carmen Medina, being both female and Puerto Rican-a double minority-created both challenges and opportunities. Research shows double minorities face harsher evaluation when they fail but may have more flexibility to act assertively without violating stereotypes when they've proven their competence.
What we ultimately regret most are not errors of commission but errors of omission-not expressing our ideas when we had the chance. The key is finding the courage to speak up rather than staying silent.
5장
The Strategic Advantage of Procrastination
Contrary to conventional wisdom, research shows that procrastination can enhance creativity. In experiments, college students who procrastinated on a business proposal task produced 28% more creative ideas than those who started immediately. This wasn't because of mental stimulation from breaks or games, but specifically from keeping the task in mind while deliberately delaying work on it.
Leonardo da Vinci exemplifies creative procrastination, taking 16 years to complete the Mona Lisa while "dabbling" in optical experiments that ultimately enhanced his painting technique. His procrastination wasn't laziness but a deliberate process that allowed his genius to develop fully.
Over 68% of Science Talent Search winners admitted to procrastinating in multiple domains of life, with many deliberately using it as "a form of incubation" to avoid premature problem-solving. Abraham Lincoln followed this approach with the Gettysburg Address, composing only half beforehand and finalizing it the morning of delivery. Similarly, Martin Luther King Jr. resisted foreclosing on a theme for his March on Washington speech, gathering advisers the night before to generate the best ideas.
King's famous "I have a dream" speech wasn't actually written into his script-it emerged through improvisation when gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin!" during his delivery. This spontaneity was possible because King had procrastinated strategically, collecting a repertoire of oratorical fragments from previous speeches rather than finalizing a rigid text. By delaying the final draft, King assembled the broadest set of ideas and remained flexible enough to double the length of his address with powerful, unplanned material.
Being first to market is often a disadvantage rather than an advantage. Studies show pioneers have a 47% failure rate compared to just 8% for settlers who enter established markets later. Pioneers capture only 10% market share on average versus 28% for settlers. The first-mover disadvantage stems from four factors: pioneers often overreach with premature scaling; risk-averse settlers make more calculated decisions; settlers learn from pioneers' mistakes; and settlers can adjust to evolving market conditions while pioneers get stuck in their initial offerings.
While many believe originality flows from youth, there are actually two distinct creative styles that peak at different ages. Conceptual innovators like Einstein formulate big ideas and execute them quickly, often making their greatest contributions in their twenties and thirties. Experimental innovators like Robert Frost evolve through trial and error, often blooming late-Frost wrote 92% of his most famous poems after forty. For those not blessed with early conceptual breakthroughs, the experimental path offers a renewable source of originality throughout life.
6장
Building Effective Coalitions for Change
Coalitions are powerful but inherently unstable, depending heavily on relationships between individual members. The women's suffrage movement nearly collapsed when Lucy Stone's alliance with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton shattered over tactical disagreements. Building effective coalitions requires striking a delicate balance between ideals and pragmatism.
The key insight is a Goldilocks theory: originals who start movements are often the most radical members whose ideas prove too extreme for followers. To form alliances with opposing groups, it's best to temper the cause as much as possible. Yet to draw allies into joining the cause itself, a moderately tempered message is needed-neither too hot nor too cold, but just right.
Common goals often drive groups apart rather than binding them together through what psychologist Judith White calls "horizontal hostility." Radical groups frequently disparage more mainstream groups as impostors and sellouts despite sharing fundamental objectives. Research shows vegans exhibit nearly three times as much prejudice toward vegetarians as vice versa, conservative political parties judge similar parties more harshly than progressive ones, and orthodox Jews evaluate conservative Jewish women more negatively than non-practicing ones.
When building coalitions, originals must avoid the trap of refusing to moderate their radicalism. The Occupy Wall Street movement failed partly because its extreme positioning and name alienated potential allies-had they simply called themselves "The 99 Percent," they might have attracted more mainstream support. Research shows that outsiders judge coalitions by their most extreme members, not their central figures.
In Hollywood, original ideas must balance novelty with familiarity to succeed. The Lion King, initially conceived as "Bambi in Africa with lions," gained traction only when framed as "Hamlet with lions," giving executives a familiar reference point. Stanford creativity expert Justin Berg explains that starting with novelty then adding familiarity creates the most promising ideas.
Frances Willard brilliantly reframed women's suffrage as a "home protection ballot" rather than using justice or societal reform arguments. By positioning voting as a means to fight alcohol abuse, she linked suffrage to the familiar value of protecting homes. This strategic reframing significantly increased alliances between suffragists and temperance workers.
Willard's approach teaches two crucial lessons: first, present your values as means to others' ends rather than trying to change their ideals; second, transparency isn't always optimal-sometimes originals must disguise radical ideas within familiar frameworks, like smuggling votes inside "the Trojan horse of fighting alcohol abuse."
7장
The Roots of Originality: Birth Order, Parenting, and Role Models
Birth order significantly predicts risk-taking behavior. Jackie Robinson, the youngest of five children, demonstrated this pattern when he refused to sit at the back of a bus in 1944 and later stole home plate in the World Series despite unfavorable odds. While firstborns enjoy initial career advantages and are 43% of CEOs, laterborns show faster salary growth because they switch jobs more readily. Firstborns defend the status quo; laterborns challenge it.
Research shows high academic achievers are 2.3 times more likely to be firstborn, while rebels are twice as likely to be lastborn. This explains why Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-up comics include 44 lastborns but only 20 firstborns, despite statistical expectations of equal numbers. These comedians came from families averaging 3.5 children, with comedians 83% more likely to be lastborn than chance would predict.
The biggest personality differences occur within families, not between them. This phenomenon stems from "niche picking"-younger siblings differentiate themselves rather than competing directly with older siblings who've already claimed certain roles. Firstborns, initially only children who identify with parents, often enforce rules and assert authority when younger siblings arrive. Laterborns then carve different paths to stand out.
Parents typically start strict with firstborns but become increasingly flexible with laterborns. When Robinson joined a neighborhood gang and got caught stealing, his mother often defended him rather than enforcing punishment, as "Jackie was the baby of the family." This parental flexibility allowed him to approach "life's challenges as dares rather than uphill battles."
What distinguished Holocaust rescuers from bystanders was how their parents disciplined them. Rescuers' parents relied on reasoning and explanations rather than punishment, communicating respect and faith in their children's ability to improve. Similarly, parents of highly creative children enforce fewer rules-less than one on average compared to six for ordinary children-emphasizing moral values over specific regulations.
How we praise children shapes their moral development. When children share, most adults praise the action: "That was nice." But praising character-"You are a helpful person"-proves far more effective. In one study, 45% of children who received character praise later donated materials to hospital patients, compared to only 10% who received behavior praise. Character praise helps children internalize values as part of their identity.
While parents can nurture originality, children eventually need role models beyond their families. In a longitudinal study of Radcliffe College women, those who named mentors (rather than parents) as major influences were far more likely to pursue meaningful change later in life-mentors accounted for 14% of differences in women's desires to improve the world, while parental influence explained less than 1%.
Many originals find inspiration in biographies of historical figures like Malala Yousafzai reading about activists Meena and Martin Luther King Jr., or in fictional characters from beloved novels. Remarkably, when children's stories emphasize original achievements, innovation rates soar decades later as those children grow up.
8장
Creating Cultures That Welcome Dissent
For decades, Yale psychologist Irving Janis's theory that cohesion causes groupthink has dominated leadership thinking. However, this theory is fundamentally flawed. Research across Fortune 500 companies shows cohesive groups often make better decisions, with "enhanced communication" and members "secure enough in their roles to challenge one another."
In the mid-1990s, researchers studied high-tech Silicon Valley startups to identify which organizational blueprints led to success. They found three dominant models: professional (hiring for specific skills), star (prioritizing raw brainpower), and commitment (emphasizing cultural fit and emotional bonds). The commitment blueprint proved remarkably superior-not a single firm with this model failed, while professional blueprint companies had three times higher failure rates.
While commitment cultures excel in startups, they often falter as organizations mature. The problem is homogeneity-as organizations attract, select, and retain similar people, they effectively eliminate diversity in thoughts and values. Stanford sociologist Jesper Srensen found that strong cultures perform well in stable industries but struggle in volatile markets, becoming too insular to recognize the need for change.
Bridgewater Associates' success stems from a culture that actively encourages dissent. Unlike typical organizations where criticizing leadership is career suicide, employees at Bridgewater are expected to voice concerns directly. When a client adviser gave founder Ray Dalio a "D-" for a disorganized presentation, Dalio responded by asking others for honest feedback. Employees are evaluated on whether they speak up and can be fired for not challenging the status quo.
While many leaders appoint devil's advocates to combat groupthink, research shows this approach is flawed. In experiments with German managers, assigned devil's advocates had minimal impact on group decisions. By contrast, groups with authentic dissenters who genuinely believed in minority positions were 15% less confident in their original views and considered 14% more articles challenging the majority preference. Authentic dissenters generate 48% more solutions of higher quality than assigned devil's advocates.
Many leaders embrace the mantra "Don't bring me problems; bring me solutions." While this seems wise, it creates a culture of advocacy that dampens inquiry. To ensure problems get raised, leaders need mechanisms for unearthing dissenters. Google learned this when Laszlo Bock's team announced a performance review timing change, only to face strong objections. They had fallen victim to groupthink by obtaining opinions only from like-minded people. In response, they created "Canaries"-trusted engineers across the company who represent diverse viewpoints and speak their minds before major policy changes.
9장
Managing the Emotions of Originality
While originals may appear confident outwardly, they often experience internal ambivalence and self-doubt. When facing challenges, people employ two different strategies: strategic optimism (anticipating the best) and defensive pessimism (expecting the worst). Contrary to popular belief, defensive pessimists perform just as well as strategic optimists despite their anxiety.
Research by psychologist Julie Norem shows that defensive pessimists convert anxiety into motivation by imagining disaster scenarios, which drives them to plan meticulously. In experiments, defensive pessimists performed 30% better at dart throwing when visualizing negative outcomes rather than positive ones. Their anxiety peaks before events, leaving them prepared when the moment arrives. Their confidence comes not from delusion but from realistic appraisal and exhaustive planning.
When managing fear, most people try to calm down, but research shows converting fear into excitement is more effective. In an experiment with college students singing "Don't Stop Believin'," those who said "I am excited" scored 80% accuracy, compared to 53% for those who acknowledged anxiety and 69% for the control group. Fear creates intense physiological arousal that's difficult to suppress-like "slamming on the brakes when a car is going 80 miles per hour." Instead of fighting this momentum, we can harness it by "stepping on the gas" and channeling that energy into excitement.
In Solomon Asch's experiments, having just one ally dramatically reduced conformity errors from 37% to 5.5%. As Margaret Mead observed, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Research shows even having one friend significantly decreases workplace loneliness. This principle powered Otpor!'s revolution against Milosevic-their fist symbol showed Serbians they weren't alone in opposition.
Research shows successful change campaigns require urgency. Harvard's John Kotter found over 50% of leaders fail to convince employees that change must happen immediately. Nobel Prize-winning research by Tversky and Kahneman demonstrates that people make different choices when options are framed as losses rather than gains. Communication expert Nancy Duarte notes great communicators first establish the problematic status quo before showing what could be, maximizing the gap between them.
When managing intense emotions like anger, there are two approaches: surface acting (putting on a mask while internally seething) and deep acting (actually changing your inner feelings). Research shows surface acting is exhausting and burns people out, while deep acting is more sustainable. When training activists, Otpor! taught deep acting through role-playing exercises, helping participants anticipate others' reactions and practice appropriate responses.
While many believe venting anger helps relieve pressure, research by psychologist Brad Bushman shows the opposite-venting actually feeds anger rather than extinguishing it. The civil rights movement deliberately avoided venting, instead channeling anger productively by focusing on victims rather than perpetrators. This approach leads to seeking justice rather than revenge.
E.B. White once wrote, "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it difficult to plan the day." While many choose to enjoy the world as it is, originals embrace the uphill battle to make the world what it could be. Though they may temporarily sacrifice some pleasure, they ultimately create a better world. Becoming original may not be the easiest path to happiness, but it perfectly positions us for "the happiness of pursuit."
