Welcome to our collection of quotes by Adam Grant. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Adam Grant
Adam M. Grant (born August 13, 1981) is an American psychologist and author who is currently a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania specializing in organizational psychology. He received academic tenure aged 28, making him the youngest tenured professor at the Wharton School.
Recognize that dissenting opinions are useful even when they're wrong, and go out of your way to reward them.
We have many identities, and we can't be authentic to them all. The best we can do is be sincere in our efforts to earn the values we claim.
Geniuses don't have better ideas than the rest of us. They just have more of them.
When people are depending on us, we end up finding strength we didn't know we had.
To generate creative ideas, it's important to start from an unusual place. But to explain those ideas, they have to be connected to something familiar.
If I had the day off and knew everyone else was voting, I wouldn't miss it. It would become a routine part of my responsibility as a citizen -- like paying taxes, only less soul crushing.
As more women 'lean in' and we collectively continue to fight sexism, there's another barrier to progress that hasn't been addressed: Many men who would like to see more women leaders are afraid to speak up about it.
Authenticity is a virtue. But just as you can have too little authenticity, you can also have too much.
Some people are selfish in all of their relationships. Those people are called sociopaths.
In the conversation about women in leadership, male voices are noticeably absent.
By admitting your inadequacies, you show that you're self-aware enough to know your areas for improvement -- and secure enough to be open about them.
When medical students focus on helping others, they're able to weather the slings and arrows of long hours and devastating health outcomes: they know their colleagues and patients are depending on them.
When young women get called bossy, it's often because they're trying to exercise power without status. It's not a problem that they're being dominant; the backlash arises because they're overstepping their status.
By looking on the bright side, we'll activate enthusiasm and turn on the go system.
As a man, it is true that I will never know what it is like to be a woman. As an organizational psychologist, though, I feel a responsibility to bring evidence to bear on dynamics of work life that affect all of us, not only half of us.
Originals are nonconformists, people who not only have new ideas but take action to champion them. They are people who stand out and speak up. Originals drive creativity and change in the world. They're the people you want to bet on.
Leaders who master emotions can rob us of our capacities to reason. If their values are out of step with our own, the results can be devastating.
If we want people to vote, we need to make it a larger part of their self-image.
Perhaps gaining power doesn't cause people to act like takers. It simply creates the opportunity for people who think like takers to express themselves.
Procrastinating is a vice when it comes to productivity, but it can be a virtue for creativity.
For women to achieve equal representation in leadership roles, it's important that they have the backing of men as well as women.
A resilient culture has a certain amount of resistance embedded in it. Not so much to capsize it, but enough so that it doesn't atrophy.
Some of the greatest moments in human history were fueled by emotional intelligence.
Instead of assuming that emotional intelligence is always useful, we need to think more carefully about where and when it matters.
From a motivation perspective, helping others enriches the meaning and purpose of our own lives, showing us that our contributions matter and energizing us to work harder, longer, and smarter.
Having a sense of security in one realm gives us the freedom to be original in another.
By covering our bases financially, we escape the pressure to publish half-baked books, sell shoddy art, or launch untested businesses.
The great thing about a culture of givers is that's not a delusion -- it's reality.
From a relationship perspective, givers build deeper and broader connections.
When takers talk about mistakes, they're usually quick to place the blame on other people. Givers are more likely to say 'Here's the mistake I made; I learned the following from it. Here are the steps I'm taking to make sure I don't let people down in the future.'
When you're dealing with an ambivalent relationship, you're constantly on guard, grappling with questions of trust.
People tend to have one of three 'styles' of interaction. There are takers, who are always trying to serve themselves; matchers, who are always trying to get equal benefit for themselves and others; and givers, who are always trying to help people.
The more I help out, the more successful I become. But I measure success in what it has done for the people around me. That is the real accolade.
Procrastinate strategically... Procrastination may be the enemy of productivity but it can be a valuable resource for creativity.
The mark of higher education isn't the knowledge you accumulate in your head. It's the skills you gain about how to learn.
To make sense of bossiness, we need to tease apart two fundamental aspects of social hierarchy that are often lumped together: power and status. Power lies in holding a formal position of authority or controlling important resources. Status involves being respected or admired.
If we want a better original idea, we must generate our own before we screen others' suggestions.
If you want your children to bring original ideas into the world, you need to let them pursue their passions, not yours.
Kids who evolve into creative adults tend to have a strong moral compass.
Authenticity means erasing the gap between what you firmly believe inside and what you reveal to the outside world.
When you procrastinate, you're more likely to let your mind wander. That gives you a better chance of stumbling onto the unusual and spotting unexpected patterns.
I start a lot of things and purposely leave them unfinished. When I have a bunch of really long emails, and I need time to think about the response, I'll actually start replying, leave them as drafts, and move onto something else mid-sentence.
Being a giver is not about saying yes to all of the people all of the time to all of the requests.
When writing 'Give and Take' and 'Originals,' the predominant emotion for me was curiosity.
When you develop a reputation for being responsive and generous, an ever-expanding mountain of requests will come your way.
Teams need the opportunity to learn about each other's capabilities and develop productive routines. So once we get the right people on the bus, let's make sure they spend some time driving together.
One of the signs of a bad coworker is a pattern of persistent undermining -- intentionally hindering a colleague's success, reputation, or relationships.
In the workplace, many people become helicopter managers, hovering over their employees in a well-intentioned but ill-fated attempt to provide support. These are givers gone awry -- people so desperate to help others that they develop a white knight complex and end up causing harm instead.
When you're good at controlling your own emotions, you can disguise your true feelings. When you know what others are feeling, you can tug at their heartstrings and motivate them to act against their own best interests.
The more important argument against grade curves is that they create an atmosphere that's toxic by pitting students against one another. At best, it creates a hypercompetitive culture, and at worst, it sends students the message that the world is a zero-sum game: Your success means my failure.
If you want to be a generous giver, you have to watch out for selfish takers.
Meditation isn't snake oil. For some people, meditation might be the most efficient way to reduce stress and cultivate mindfulness. But it isn't a panacea. If you don't meditate, there's no need to stress out about it.
Agreeable people are warm and friendly. They're nice; they're polite. You find a lot of them in Canada.
I believe that the most meaningful way to succeed is to help other people succeed.
Good leaders build products. Great leaders build cultures. Good leaders deliver results. Great leaders develop people. Good leaders have vision. Great leaders have values. Good leaders are role models at work. Great leaders are role models in life.
We think confidence causes success, but it's more often a result of success -- mastering something hard or accomplishing something meaningful.
No goal worth achieving is easy. The path to any kind of excellence is always paved with obstacles. Grit comes from learning to see the struggle as a challenge -- a test of resolve. Keep rising to the occasion, and eventually you wind up looking forward to it.
It pays to be smart -- but it pays more to be determined, disciplined, dependable, and driven.
Kids don't need to be punished. They need to be told why their behavior was wrong and how they can make it right. Kids don't just need to feel that they can count on others. They need to feel that others are relying on them too.
Parents focus too much on grades and goals, and too little on generosity. Kids raised to be kind are more successful in school and work -- and happier too. At family dinner, don't just ask kids what they achieved. Ask who they helped and who helped them.
Snowplow parents prepare the road for kids. Responsible parents prepare kids for the road. Resilience is built not by eliminating struggle, but by normalizing it. Teach kids to see obstacles as temporary hurdles.
We can't control what people say, but we do have a say in how we react. Refusing to give others power over our feelings is a mark of emotional intelligence.
Most of yesterday's news is forgotten. Most of today's news is irrelevant tomorrow. Read less of what's timely and more of what's timeless.
When you're in the weeds, all you can see is the process of doing the work. When you take a step back, you can see the purpose.
As kids become more depressed and anxious, limiting screen time is not enough. Kids need less homework and fewer tests, longer recesses and lunches, more socioemotional learning, more unstructured, unscheduled time to play.
Depression is a medical condition. We need to create a world where people are as comfortable seeking care for their minds as they are for their bodies.
Authenticity without empathy is selfish. Authenticity without boundaries is careless.
Giving is about more than donating money. It's about sharing your capabilities, content, and connections--and above all, giving others the chance to be heard, respected, and valued.
Integrity is holding ourselves to the same high standards that we have for others.