“Think Again” by Adam Grant. It emphasizes the importance of mental flexibility, avoiding cognitive laziness, and the need for individual, interpersonal, and collective rethinking. The concepts include thinking like a scientist, avoiding thinking like a preacher, prosecutor, or politician, getting into task conflicts, debating like a dance, learning to debate, exercising counterfactual thinking, practicing motivational interviews, avoiding binary bias, teaching how to check the facts and think like a scientist, building a culture of learning, and having a challenging network. The overarching message is that rethinking liberates us to more than just update our knowledge.
it leads to a more fulfilling life.
Mental Flexibility: Embracing Change
- Concept: Adapting to new information and revisiting past decisions.
- Example: When new evidence suggests that a business strategy is not working, a mentally flexible leader would pivot and explore alternative strategies.
Cognitive Laziness: Overcoming Comfort
- Concept: Challenging the preference for familiar thoughts and beliefs.
- Example: Regularly questioning long-held practices in a company to innovate and improve, rather than sticking to the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset.
Individual Rethinking: Opening Minds
- Think Like a Scientist: Testing beliefs like hypotheses.
- Example: A marketing team runs A/B tests to determine the most effective ad campaign.
- Beware of the Mount Stupid: Recognizing the limits of one’s knowledge.
- Example: A new investor refrains from making large, risky investments until they have a solid understanding of the market.
- Get Into Task Conflicts: Encouraging debate over ideas, not personal conflicts.
- Example: A project team holds a brainstorming session where all ideas are welcomed and debated based on their merits.
Interpersonal Rethinking: Engaging Others
- Debate Like a Dance: Engaging in discussions that are constructive, not combative.
- Example: Colleagues discuss differing viewpoints on a project respectfully, aiming to reach the best outcome together.
- Learn to Debate: Focusing on common goals rather than winning arguments.
- Example: In a community meeting, residents focus on shared objectives like safety and prosperity to resolve local issues.
- Exercise Counterfactual Thinking: Imagining different outcomes to learn from past decisions.
- Example: A team reflects on what might have happened if they had chosen a different approach to a failed project.
Collective Rethinking: Building Communities
- Avoid Binary Bias: Recognizing that complex issues often require more than choosing between two sides.
- Example: In policy development, considering a spectrum of options instead of just ‘for’ or ‘against’ positions.
- Teach How to Check the Facts: Promoting critical thinking to evaluate information.
- Example: Educators teach students how to assess the credibility of sources in their research.
- Build a Culture of Learning: Creating environments where continuous learning is valued.
- Example: Companies encourage employees to pursue ongoing professional development and share their knowledge with their teams.