“Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know” by Adam Grant

Overall Focus: Adam Grant’s “Think Again” is a non-fiction book that advocates for the importance of rethinking, unlearning, and embracing intellectual humility in a rapidly changing world. It argues that the ability to question our own beliefs and perspectives, and to remain open to new information, is crucial for personal growth, effective communication, and success in various aspects of life, including business and relationships.

Author Background (Based on Sources): Think Again

• Adam Grant is a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been ranked the number one professor for seven consecutive years.
• He is an organizational psychologist and a leading expert on motivation, meaning, rethinking assumptions, and living generous and creative lives.
• He is recognized as a highly influential management thinker and a successful New York Times bestselling author with six books, including “Think Again.”
• His books have received numerous awards and “Think Again” has a high average rating (4.6 stars on Amazon with over 15,000 ratings) and generally positive reviews.

Main Themes and Important Ideas:

1. Rethinking and Unlearning as Essential Cognitive Skills:

• The core premise of the book is that in a turbulent world, the ability to rethink and unlearn is as, if not more, important than the ability to think and learn.
• Intelligence is defined as thinking and learning, while wisdom is defined as rethinking and unlearning.
• Intelligent people may be good at solving problems, but wise people are open to being wrong and re-evaluating information.
• Rethinking is presented as a “set of skills and also a mindset.”
• Quote: “Intelligence is traditionally viewed as the ability to think and learn. Yet in a turbulent world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn.”
• Quote: “If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom.”
• Quote: “Changing your mind doesn’t make you a flip-flopper or a hypocrite. It means you were open to learning.”

1. Identifying and Overcoming Barriers to Rethinking: Think Again

• Grant identifies several mindsets that hinder rethinking: the preacher (promoting our beliefs), the prosecutor (finding flaws in others’ arguments), and the politician (campaigning for approval). These mindsets assume our beliefs are infallible and focus on converting others rather than updating our own views.
• Cognitive entrenchment is a significant barrier, where individuals or organizations are so committed to an idea that they resist change even in the face of overwhelming evidence (e.g., the example of Blackberry and its commitment to physical buttons).
• The Totalitarian Ego: This psychological concept describes an “inner dictator” that protects our self-image by filtering out threatening information and feeding us “comforting lies.”
• Overconfidence and the Dunning-Kruger Effect: Grant highlights that those with higher IQs can sometimes have more difficulty updating their beliefs and points to the Dunning-Kruger effect, where less intelligent people are often overconfident in their abilities. Overconfidence can trap us on “Mount Stupid.”
• Escalation of Commitment: This phenomenon describes the tendency to continue investing in a failing course of action, often fueled by “grit” (passion and perseverance). There’s a fine line between persistence and foolish stubbornness.
• Quote: “Trapped in the prison cell of our own dogma, we don’t set out to learn anything or update our own beliefs; our job is simply to convert others to our way of thinking because, of course, we are right.”
• Quote: “Intelligence itself has actually been shown at times to be a disadvantage, as those with high IQs have the most difficulty updating their beliefs.”
• Quote: “Arrogance is ignorance plus conviction.”
• Quote: “Sometimes the best kind of grit is gritting our teeth and turning around.”

1. Adopting the Mindset of a Scientist:

• The ideal mindset for personal development and learning is that of a scientist.
• Scientists are constantly aware of the limits of their understanding, are expected to doubt what they know, be curious about what they don’t know, and update their views based on new data.
• Thinking like a scientist involves approaching situations with curiosity and the desire to test and retest hypotheses rather than immediately assuming one is right.
• This mindset encourages detaching one’s sense of self from specific beliefs and instead grounding identity in mental flexibility.
• Considering beliefs as provisional hypotheses and seeking to disprove them leads to greater knowledge through being wrong more often.
• Quote: “The key question, then, is this: If most of us are unaware of the extent of our own ignorance, how can we hope to overcome our own resistance to change? The first step, as Grant recommends, is to detach your sense of self from any specific beliefs.”
• Quote: “Grant recommends instead to ground your sense of self in mental flexibility, taking pride in the fact that you’re willing to change your mind and update your beliefs.”
• Quote: “Using this approach, you will have discovered the ideal mindset for personal development and learning—not the mindset of a preacher, prosecutor, or politician, but the mindset of a scientist.”

1. The Importance of Intellectual Humility and Doubt:

• Intellectual humility, the awareness of what we don’t know, is a crucial starting point for rethinking.
• Recognizing our shortcomings opens the door to doubt, which in turn fuels curiosity and the search for new information.
• Doubt can be a powerful tool for growth, allowing us to have confidence in our capacity to learn even when questioning our current solutions.
• Embracing the “joy of being wrong” allows us to focus on improving ourselves rather than just proving ourselves.
• Quote: “As I’ve studied the process of rethinking, I’ve found that it often unfolds in a cycle. It starts with intellectual humility—knowing what we don’t know.”
• Quote: “Recognizing our shortcomings opens the door to doubt. As we question our current understanding, we become curious about what information we’re missing. That search leads us to new discoveries, which in turn maintain our humility by reinforcing how much we still have to learn.”
• Quote: “Knowing what you don’t know is often the first step toward developing expertise.”

1. Interpersonal Rethinking: Opening Other People’s Minds:

• The book explores strategies for encouraging others to rethink, moving beyond adversarial approaches to discussion.
• This involves finding common ground, asking questions, and employing “motivational interviewing” techniques, which focus on understanding the other person’s motivations for considering change.
• Grant provides examples of successful interpersonal rethinking, such as Daryl Davis’s conversations with Ku Klux Klan members.
• Quote: “You might respond by asking why she’s considering quitting. If she says a doctor recommended it, you might follow up by inquiring about her own motivations: what does she think of the idea?”

1. Collective Rethinking: Creating Communities of Lifelong Learners:

• Rethinking is also vital at the organizational and societal levels.
• Creating “learning cultures” within organizations is crucial, emphasizing psychological safety where individuals feel comfortable admitting mistakes and challenging existing practices (contrasted with “performance cultures”).
• Process accountability (evaluating decisions based on the process used, not just the outcome) is more conducive to rethinking than focusing solely on results.
• The book examines how groups and societies can become entrenched in beliefs and how to encourage open dialogue and learning.
• Quote: “Rethinking is more likely when we separate the initial decision makers from the later decision evaluators.”

1. Applying Rethinking to Life Choices:

• Rethinking applies to personal decisions, including career paths and relationships.
• Grant challenges the traditional question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and suggests focusing on who we want to be.
• He advocates for periodic “checkups” on our life plans and aspirations to ensure they align with our evolving selves.
• Attachment to past identities or goals (identity foreclosure) can create “tunnel vision,” hindering our ability to adapt.
• Quote: “When Ryan was looking at colleges, he came to visit me. As we started talking about majors, he expressed a flicker of doubt about the premed track and asked if he should study economics instead.”
• Quote: “Whether we do checkups with our partners, our parents, or our mentors, it’s worth pausing once or twice a year to reflect on how our aspirations have changed.”

Overall Message: “Think Again” is a powerful call to cultivate the habit of questioning our own thinking. By embracing humility, doubt, and curiosity, and adopting a scientific mindset, we can become more adaptable, wise, and effective in navigating a complex and ever-changing world. The book emphasizes that being open to being wrong is not a weakness, but a strength that leads to continuous learning and growth.

Contact Factoring Specialist, Chris Lehnes