Think Again Quotes

“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

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

“Confidence is a measure of how much you believe in yourself. Evidence shows that’s distinct from how much you believe in your methods. You can be confident in your ability to achieve a goal in the future while maintaining the humility to question whether you have the right tools in the present. That’s the sweet spot of confidence.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Requiring proof is an enemy of progress.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“In a classic study of highly accomplished architects, the most creative ones graduated with a B average. Their straight-A counterparts were so determined to be right that they often failed to take the risk of rethinking the orthodoxy. A similar pattern emerged in a study of students who graduated at the top of their class. “Valedictorians aren’t likely to be the future’s visionaries,” education researcher Karen Arnold explains. “They typically settle into the system instead of shaking it up.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“The better you are at crunching numbers, the more spectacularly you fail at analyzing patterns that contradict your views.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“As stereotypes stick and prejudice deepens, we don’t just identify with our own group; we disidentify with our adversaries, coming to define who we are by what we’re not. We don’t just preach the virtues of our side; we find self-worth in prosecuting the vices of our rivals.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“controlling the flow of facts to our minds, much like Kim Jong-un controls the press in North Korea. The technical term for this in psychology is the totalitarian ego, and its job is to keep out threatening information.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“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

“We should be careful to avoid getting too attached to a particular route or even a particular destination. There isn't one definition of success or one track to happiness.”
― Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Have a weekly myth-busting discussion at dinner. It’s”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Practice the art of persuasive listening.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“There are always multiple paths to the same end, and the same starting point can be a path to many different ends. We should be careful to avoid getting too attached to a particular route or even a particular destination. There isn't one definition of success or one track to happiness.”
― Adam Grant, Think Again

“In a productive conversation, people treat their feelings as a rough draft.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Prof acts all down with pop culture, but secretly thinks Ariana Grande is a font in Microsoft Word.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“the guidelines include (1) “interrogate information instead of simply consuming it,” (2) “reject rank and popularity as a proxy for reliability,” and (3) “understand that the sender of information is often not its source.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Disagreeable people tend to be more critical, skeptical, and challenging—and they’re more likely than their peers to become engineers and lawyers. They’re not just comfortable with conflict; it energizes them. If you’re highly disagreeable, you might be happier in an argument than in a friendly conversation.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“In every line of work, there are people who become active architects of their own jobs: They rethink their roles through job crafting - Changing their daily actions, to better fit their values, interests, and skills.”
― Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“A hallmark of wisdom is knowing when it’s time to abandon some of your most treasured tools, and some of the most cherished parts of your identity.”
― Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Being a scientist is not just a profession. It's a frame of mind...Scientific tools are not reserved for people in white coats and beakers. Hypotheses have as much place in our lives as they do in the lab. Experiments can inform our daily decisions.”
― Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“When people are resistant to change, it helps to reinforce what will stay the same”
― Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Confidence is a measure of how much you believe in yourself. Evidence shows that's distinct from how much you believe in your methods. You can be confident in your ability to achieve a goal in the future while maintaining the humility to question whether you have the right tools in the present. That's the sweet spot of confidence.”
― Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“We learn more from people who challenge our thought process than those who affirm our conclusions. Strong leaders engage their critics and make themselves stronger. Weak leaders silence their critics and make themselves weaker. This reaction isn’t limited to people in power. Although we might be on board with the principle, in practice we often miss out on the value of a challenge network. In one experiment, when people were criticized rather than praised by a partner, they were over four times more likely to request a new partner. Across a range of workplaces, when employees received tough feedback from colleagues, their default response was to avoid those coworkers or drop them from their networks altogether—and their performance suffered over the following year.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“That rarely happens in the other mental modes. In preacher mode, changing our minds is a mark of moral weakness; in scientist mode, it’s a sign of intellectual integrity. In prosecutor mode, allowing ourselves to be persuaded is admitting defeat; in scientist mode, it’s a step toward the truth. In politician mode, we flip-flop in response to carrots and sticks; in scientist mode, we shift in the face of sharper logic and stronger data.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Kathryn Schulz observes, “Although small amounts of evidence are sufficient to make us draw conclusions, they are seldom sufficient to make us revise them.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“If you’re a scientist by trade, rethinking is fundamental to your profession. You’re paid to be constantly aware of the limits of your understanding. You’re expected to doubt what you know, be curious about what you don’t know, and update your views based on new data.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know