Think Again Quotes

“When I asked one of the Wall Street executives for advice on how to approach debates differently in the future, he suggested expressing less conviction.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Kelly noticed that we become especially hostile when trying to defend opinions that we know, deep down, are false.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Daryl is obviously extraordinary—not only in his ability to wage a one-man war on prejudice, but also in his inclination to do so. As a general rule, it’s those with greater power who need to do more of the rethinking, both because they’re more likely to privilege their own perspectives and because their perspectives are more likely to go unquestioned. In most cases, the oppressed and marginalized have already done a great deal of contortion to fit in.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“counterfactual thinking involves imagining how the circumstances of our lives could have unfolded differently.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Psychologist George Kelly observed that our beliefs are like pairs of reality goggles. We use them to make sense of the world and navigate our surroundings.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Appreciating complexity reminds us that no behavior is always effective and that all cures have unintended consequences.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Kids whose parents clash constructively feel more emotionally safe in elementary school, and over the next few years they actually demonstrate more helpfulness and compassion toward their classmates.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“We go into preacher mode when our sacred beliefs are in jeopardy: we deliver sermons to protect and promote our ideals. We enter prosecutor mode when we recognize flaws in other people’s reasoning: we marshal arguments to prove them wrong and win our case. We shift into politician mode when we’re seeking to win over an audience: we campaign and lobby for the approval of our constituents. The risk is that we become so wrapped up in preaching that we’re right, prosecuting others who are wrong, and politicking for support that we don’t bother to rethink our own views. When Stephen”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Research suggests that the more frequently we make fun of ourselves, the happier we tend to be.* Instead of beating ourselves up about our mistakes, we can turn some of our past misconceptions into sources of present amusement.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“One of the Latin roots of humility means “from the earth.” It’s about being grounded—recognizing that we’re flawed and fallible.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Arrogance is ignorance plus conviction,” blogger Tim Urban explains.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Part of the problem is cognitive laziness. Some psychologists point out that we’re mental misers: we often prefer the ease of hanging on to old views over the difficulty of grappling with new ones. Yet there are also deeper forces behind our resistance to rethinking. Questioning ourselves makes the world more unpredictable. It requires us to admit that the facts may have changed, that what was once right may now be wrong. Reconsidering something we believe deeply can threaten our identities, making it feel as if we’re losing a part of ourselves. Rethinking isn’t a struggle in every part of our lives. When it comes to our possessions, we update with fervor. We refresh our wardrobes when they go out of style and renovate our kitchens when they’re no longer in vogue. When it comes to our knowledge and opinions, though, we tend to stick to our guns. Psychologists call this seizing and freezing. We favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt, and we let our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. We laugh at people who still use Windows 95, yet we still cling to opinions that we formed in 1995. We listen to views that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Part of the problem is cognitive laziness. Some psychologists point out that we’re mental misers: we often prefer the ease of hanging on to old views over the difficulty of grappling with new ones. Yet there are also deeper forces behind our resistance to rethinking. Questioning ourselves makes the world more unpredictable. It requires us to admit that the facts may have changed, that what was once right may now be wrong. Reconsidering something we believe deeply can threaten our identities, making it feel as if we’re losing a part of ourselves. Rethinking isn’t a struggle in every part of our lives.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“In a group of football fans, the one who knows the least is the most likely to be the armchair quarterback, prosecuting the coach for calling the wrong play and preaching about a better playbook.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“The brighter you are, the harder it can be to see your own limitations.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“At work and in life, the best we can do is plan for what we want to learn and contribute over the next year or two, and stay open to what might come next. To adapt an analogy from E. L. Doctorow, writing out a plan for your life “is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“In theory, confidence and competence go hand in hand. In practice, they often diverge.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Some psychologists point out that we’re mental misers: we often prefer the ease of hanging on to old views over the difficulty of grappling with new ones.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“If the BlackBerry’s rise was due in large part to his success in scientific thinking as an engineer, its demise was in many ways the result of his failure in rethinking as a CEO.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Yet evidence reveals that when business executives compete in tournaments to price products, the best strategists are actually slow and unsure. Like careful scientists, they take their time so they have the flexibility to change their minds.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Bold, persistent experimentation might be our best tool for rethinking.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“we might be wrong, a standard defense is “I’m entitled to my opinion.” I’d like to modify that: yes, we’re entitled to hold opinions inside our own heads. If we choose to express them out loud, though, I think it’s our responsibility to ground them in logic and facts, share our reasoning with others, and change our minds when better evidence emerges.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“To adapt an analogy from E. L. Doctorow, writing out a plan for your life “is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“What leads you to that assumption? Why do you think it is correct? What might happen if it’s wrong? What are the uncertainties in your analysis? I understand the advantages of your recommendation”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Define your identity in terms of values, not opinions.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“but outdated facts are mental fossils that are best abandoned.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“According to what’s now known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, it’s when we lack competence that we’re most likely to be brimming with overconfidence.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“The opposite of armchair quarterback syndrome is impostor syndrome, where competence exceeds confidence.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“That’s the armchair quarterback syndrome, where confidence exceeds competence”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Even if the outcome of a decision is positive, it doesn’t necessarily qualify as a success. If the process was shallow, you were lucky. If the decision process was deep, you can count it as an improvement: you’ve discovered a better practice. If the outcome is negative, it’s a failure only if the decision process was shallow. If the result was negative but you evaluated the decision thoroughly, you’ve run a smart experiment.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know