Think Again Quotes

“founder Ray Dalio told me, “If you don’t look back at yourself and think, ‘Wow, how stupid I was a year ago,’ then you must not have learned much in the last year.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Many communicators try to make themselves look smart. Great listeners are more interested in making their audiences feel smart.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“I’ve noticed a paradox in great scientists and superforecasters: the reason they’re so comfortable being wrong is that they’re terrified of being wrong. What sets them apart is the time horizon. They’re determined to reach the correct answer in the long run, and they know that means they have to be open to stumbling, backtracking, and rerouting in the short run. They shun rose-colored glasses in favor of a sturdy mirror. The fear of missing the mark next year is a powerful motivator to get a crystal-clear view of last year’s mistakes. “People who are right a lot listen a lot, and they change their mind a lot,” Jeff Bezos says. “If you don’t change your mind frequently, you’re going to be wrong a lot.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“There's a fine line between heroic persistence and foolish stubbornness. Sometimes the best kind of grit is gritting our teeth and turning around”
― Adam Grant, Think again: the power of knowing what you don’t know

“By asking questions rather than thinking for the audience, we invite them to join us as a partner and think for themselves. If we approach an argument as a war, there will be winners and losers. If we see it more as a dance, we can begin to choreograph a way forward. By considering the strongest version of an opponent’s perspective and limiting our responses to our few best steps, we have a better chance of finding a rhythm.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“When we dedicate ourselves to a plan and it isn’t going as we hoped, our first instinct isn’t usually to rethink it. Instead, we tend to double down and sink more resources in the plan. This pattern is called escalation of commitment.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“When someone becomes hostile, if you respond by viewing the argument as a war, you can either attack or retreat. If instead you treat it as a dance, you have another option—you can sidestep. Having a conversation about the conversation shifts attention away from the substance of the disagreement and toward the process for having a dialogue. The more anger and hostility the other person expresses, the more curiosity and interest you show. When someone is losing control, your tranquility is a sign of strength. It takes the wind out of their emotional sails.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Psychologists have long found that the person most likely to persuade you to change your mind is you. You get to pick the reasons you find most compelling, and you come away with a real sense of ownership over them.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“We become blinded by arrogance when we’re utterly convinced of our strengths and our strategies. We get paralyzed by doubt when we lack conviction in both. We can be consumed by an inferiority complex when we know the right method but feel uncertain about our ability to execute it. What we want to attain is confident humility: having faith in our capability while appreciating that we may not have the right solution or even be addressing the right problem. That gives us enough doubt to reexamine our old knowledge and enough confidence to pursue new insights.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“We often favor feeling right, over being right.”
― Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Discovering I was wrong felt joyful because it meant I’d learned something. As Danny told me, “Being wrong is the only way I feel sure I’ve learned anything.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“I might add that it doesn’t become the truth just because you believe it. It’s a sign of wisdom to avoid believing every thought that enters your mind. It’s a mark of emotional intelligence to avoid internalizing every feeling that enters your heart.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Polarization is reinforced by conformity: peripheral members fit in and gain status by following the lead of the most prototypical member of the group, who often holds the most intense views.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Escalation of commitment is a major factor in preventable failures. Ironically, it can be fueled by one of the most celebrated engines of success: grit. Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance, and research shows that it can play an important role in motivating us to accomplish long-term goals. When it comes to rethinking, though, grit may have a dark side. Experiments show that gritty people are more likely to overplay their hands in roulette and more willing to stay the course in tasks at which they’re failing and success is impossible.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“When we dedicate ourselves to a plan and it isn’t going as we hoped, our first instinct isn’t usually to rethink it. Instead, we tend to double down and sink more resources in the plan. This pattern is called escalation of commitment. Evidence shows that entrepreneurs persist with failing strategies when they should pivot, NBA general managers and coaches keep investing in new contracts and more playing time for draft busts, and politicians continue sending soldiers to wars that didn’t need to be fought in the first place.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Let’s agree to disagree” shouldn’t end a discussion. It should start a new conversation, with a focus on understanding and learning rather than arguing and persuading. That’s what we’d do in scientist mode: take the long view and ask how we could have handled the debate more effectively.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Arrogance leaves us blind to our weaknesses. Humility is a reflective lens: it helps us see them clearly. Confident humility is a corrective lens: it enables us to overcome those weaknesses.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“After all, the purpose of learning isn't to affirm our beliefs; it's to evolve our beliefs.”
― Adam Grant, Think again: the power of knowing what you don’t know

“the worst performers are the most overconfident.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Pride breeds conviction rather than doubt,”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child,” Michelle Obama writes. “What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Jeff Bezos says. “If you don’t change your mind frequently, you’re going to be wrong a lot.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Don’t confuse confidence with competence.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“In high schools it seems that half of teachers lecture most or all of the time.* Lectures are not always the best method of learning, and they are not enough to develop students into lifelong learners. If you spend all of your school years being fed information and are never given the opportunity to question it, you won’t develop the tools for rethinking that you need in life.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“This book is an invitation to let go of knowledge and opinions that are no longer serving you well, and to anchor your sense of self in flexibility rather than consistency.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“In ancient Greece, Plutarch wrote of a wooden ship that Theseus sailed from Crete to Athens. To preserve the ship, as its old planks decayed, Athenians would replace them with new wood. Eventually all the planks had been replaced. It looked like the same ship, but none of its parts was the same. Was it still the same ship? Later, philosophers added a wrinkle: if you collected all the original planks and fashioned them into a ship, would that be the same ship?”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Edmondson is quick to point out that psychological safety is not a matter of relaxing standards, making people comfortable, being nice and agreeable, or giving unconditional praise. It’s fostering a climate of respect, trust, and openness in which people can raise concerns and suggestions without fear of reprisal. It’s the foundation of a learning culture.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Acknowledging complexity doesn’t make speakers and writers less convincing; it makes them more credible. It doesn’t lose viewers and readers; it maintains their engagement while stoking their curiosity.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“My favorite bias is the “I’m not biased” bias, in which people believe they’re more objective than others. It turns out that smart people are more likely to fall into this trap. The brighter you are, the harder it can be to see your own limitations. Being good at thinking can make you worse at rethinking.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“The curse of knowledge is that it closes our minds to what we don’t know. Good judgment depends on having the skill—and the will—to open our minds.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know