Think Again Quotes

“I’m looking for disagreeable people who are givers, not takers. Disagreeable givers often make the best critics: their intent is to elevate the work, not feed their own egos. They don’t criticize because they’re insecure; they challenge because they care. They dish out tough love.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Still, when it comes to careers, instead of searching for the job where we’ll be happiest, we might be better off pursuing the job where we expect to learn and contribute the most. Psychologists find that passions are often developed, not discovered. In a study of entrepreneurs, the more effort they put into their startups, the more their enthusiasm about their businesses climbed each week. Their passion grew as they gained momentum and mastery. Interest doesn’t always lead to effort and skill; sometimes it follows them. By investing in learning and problem solving, we can develop our passions—and build the skills necessary to do the work and lead the lives we find worthwhile.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Her confidence wasn’t in her existing knowledge—it was in her capacity to learn.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“When we lack the knowledge and skills to achieve excellence, we sometimes lack the knowledge and skills to judge excellence.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Motivational interviewing requires a genuine desire to help people reach their goals.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“In the moral philosophy of John Rawls, the veil of ignorance asks us to judge the justice of a society by whether we’d join it without knowing our place in it. I think the scientist’s veil of ignorance is to ask whether we’d accept the results of a study based on the methods involved, without knowing what the conclusion will be.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“A third potential factor is that when we hunt for happiness, we overemphasize pleasure at the expense of purpose. This theory is consistent with data suggesting that meaning is healthier than happiness, and that people who look for purpose in their work are more successful in pursuing their passions—and less likely to quit their jobs—than those who look for joy. While enjoyment waxes and wanes, meaning tends to last.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“When you find out you’ve made a mistake, take it as a sign that you’ve just discovered something new. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. It helps you focus less on proving yourself—and more on improving yourself.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“If you find yourself saying ____ is always good or ____ is never bad, you may be a member of an idea cult. 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

“New research reveals that people are more likely to promote diversity and inclusion when the message is more nuanced (and more accurate): “Diversity is good, but it isn’t easy.”* 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

“binary bias. It’s a basic human tendency to seek clarity and closure by simplifying a complex continuum into two categories. To paraphrase the humorist Robert Benchley, there are two kinds of people: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“How do you know? It’s a question we need to ask more often, both of ourselves and of others.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“avoiding an argument is bad manners. Silence disrespects the value of your views and our ability to have a civil disagreement.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Exhausting someone in argument is not the same as convincing him. —Tim Kreider”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Although I’m terrified of hurting other people’s feelings, when it comes to challenging their thoughts, I have no fear. In fact, when I argue with someone, it’s not a display of disrespect—it’s a sign of respect. It means I value their views enough to contest them. If their opinions didn’t matter to me, I wouldn’t bother. I know I have chemistry with someone when we find it delightful to prove each other wrong.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Agreeable people make for a great support network: they’re excited to encourage us and cheerlead for us. Rethinking depends on a different kind of network: a challenge network, a group of people we trust to point out our blind spots and help us overcome our weaknesses. Their role is to activate rethinking cycles by pushing us to be humble about our expertise, doubt our knowledge, and be curious about new perspectives.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“one study, the people who scored the lowest on an emotional intelligence test weren’t just the most likely to overestimate their skills. They were also the most likely to dismiss their scores as inaccurate or irrelevant—and the least likely to invest in coaching or self-improvement.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Learning requires the humility to realize one has something to learn.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“There’s a lot a vacation can do: help you unwind, see some different-looking squirrels, but it cannot fix deeper issues, like how you behave in group settings. We can take you on a hike. We cannot turn you into someone who likes hiking. Remember, you’re still gonna be you on vacation. If you are sad where you are, and then you get on a plane to Italy, the you in Italy will be the same sad you from before, just in a new place.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“I’m still struggling to accept that Pluto may not be a planet.”
― Adam Grant, Think again: the power of knowing what you don’t know

“It shows that we care more about improving ourselves than proving ourselves.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“learning cultures thrive under a particular combination of psychological safety and accountability. I”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“It takes confident humility to admit that we're a work in progress. It shows that we care more about improving ourselves than proving ourselves.”
― Adam Grant, Think again: the power of knowing what you don’t know

“Humility is often misunderstood. It’s not a matter of having low self-confidence. 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

“We favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt, and we let our beliefs get brittle long before our bones.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Those only are happy,” philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote, “who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Instead of asking them to seek feedback, we had randomly assigned those managers to share their past experiences with receiving feedback and their future development goals. We advised them to tell their teams about a time when they benefited from constructive criticism and to identify the areas that they were working to improve now. By admitting some of their imperfections out loud, managers demonstrated that they could take it—and made a public commitment to remain open to feedback. They normalized vulnerability, making their teams more comfortable opening up about their own struggles.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“When students confront complex problems, they often feel confused. A teacher’s natural impulse is to rescue them as quickly as possible so they don’t feel lost or incompetent. Yet psychologists find that one of the hallmarks of an open mind is responding to confusion with curiosity and interest. One student put it eloquently: “I need time for my confusion.” Confusion can be a cue that there’s new territory to be explored or a fresh puzzle to be solved.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

“Lectures aren’t designed to accommodate dialogue or disagreement; they turn students into passive receivers of information rather than active thinkers.”
― Adam M. Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know