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In the deepest sense of the word, a friend is someone who sees more potential in you than you see in yourself, someone who helps you become the best version of yourself.
As economist Joseph Schumpeter famously observed, originality is an act of creative destruction.
As Polaroid founder Edwin Land remarked, “No person could possibly be original in one area unless he were possessed of the emotional and social stability that comes from fixed attitudes in all areas other than the one in which he is being original.”
It’s true that the early bird gets the worm, but we can’t forget that the early worm gets caught.
As physicist Max Planck once observed, “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die.”
To paraphrase writer E. M. Forster, how can I know what I think until I see what I say?
Shifting the focus from why to how can help people become less radical.
When Winstead went public with her rebellious political views, her father quipped, “I screwed up. I raised you to have an opinion, and I forgot to tell you it was supposed to be mine.”
Groupthink is the enemy of originality; people feel pressured to conform to the dominant, default views instead of championing diversity of thought.
“The experience underscored not just the importance of listening to our people, but also the need to have a reliable channel for opinions well before decisions are made,” Bock writes in Work Rules!
“Argue like you’re right and listen like you’re wrong.”