Summary and Analysis of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Based on the Book by Adam Grant

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• Publisher: Worth Books
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781504044899
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Workplace Culture
• Index: Business

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Adam Grant's book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of Originals includes: • Historical context
• Chapter-by-chapter overviews
• Profiles of the main characters
• Detailed timeline of events
• Important quotes and analysis
• Fascinating trivia
• Glossary of terms
• Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant: Originals is an exploration into what it takes to be an original—a person whose ideas are novel, stimulating, and unconventional, and who works on improving the world and challenging the status quo. Adam Grant shows readers how to manage fear, appreciate the art of timing, recognize good ideas, and communicate new concepts in their personal and professional lives. He discusses how to inspire creativity in children and how to foster originality within organizations and teams. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.

Summary

1. Creative Destruction: The Risky Business of Going Against the Grain

Warby Parker, the online eyeglass company, was created when one of the founders suddenly questioned why frames cost so much. The idea to sell glasses on the Internet, which wouldn’t allow people to try them on in person, seemed nonsensical to Grant, and he declined to invest. Yet when Warby Parker launched, selling glasses for about 20% of what they cost in stores, it quickly reached annual sales of $100 million. In just a few years, the company was valued at over a billion.

Originals is Grant’s study of where he went wrong.

We typically associate risk with success, but Grant disrupts that myth. For example, the founders of Warby Parker continued to attend school, and even lined up internships, rather than risk everything on their fledging venture. In fact, entrepreneurs who keep their day jobs are far more likely to stay in business. “Having a sense of security in one realm,” Grant concludes, “gives us the freedom to be original in another.”

Grant goes on to note that the core of originality is to reject the status quo. He coins the phrase vuja de—the opposite of déjà vu—viewing something familiar but seeing it with new insight. This, in turn, opens up options for making things better.

Need to Know: Grant quotes John Jost, a political psychologist, who explains, “People who suffer the most from a given state of affairs are paradoxically the least likely to question, challenge, reject, or change it.” People rationalize the status quo even when it doesn’t serve them, while originals reject it, and look for a better option.

2. Blind Inventors and One-Eyed Investors: The Art and Science of Recognizing Original Ideas

Steve Jobs championed the Segway as an invention that would change how cities were built. It was a flop. The TV show Seinfeld was widely expected to fail, and was even disliked by focus groups. It went on to become one of the most successful TV shows of all time.

Why?

A notion called “idea selection,” the author explains, is the biggest barrier to originality. This means people are blinded by past and current experiences, and are confident in their opinions, even when they have little expertise. Steve Jobs was amazingly successful, but he was not an expert in transportation, nor was the Segway’s inventor. The tastemakers at NBC were told the show would fail and believed it, and meanwhile, the test audiences were asked to find problems, so they did.

Creative people tend to have both varietal and deep experience, Grant explains, and working abroad in distinctly different cultures is linked to innovation. Also, being involved in creative activities outside your field of expertise helps foster creativity within your field. Success is not solely a matter of talent, but lies in the willingness to try. Edison produced over one thousand patents, but very few made a difference.

Need to Know: People are poor at gauging their own expertise, but when artists assessed another artist’s performance, they were twice as likely as managers and test audiences to accurately predict success. This is also borne out by the fact that performers truly value approval from peers, far exceeding their appreciation of audience approval.

3. Out on a Limb: Speaking Truth to Power

When, in the 1990s, CIA analyst Carmen Medina argued that the CIA should share information within the organization in real time using the then-new technology of the Internet, she was shot down, ignored, and penalized for going against the status quo. Yet when her idea was finally implemented years later, it proved to be one of the most successful and innovative ideas in the history of the organization. Medina had simply put it forth too early, before she had the power or the status to achieve her goal.

These are the two dimensions of social hierarchy within an organization: power and status. Power is control or authority over others. Status is respect and admiration within the organization. Power is granted by roles, while status is earned. Early on, Carmen Medina had neither. She eventually gained status by diligent work that made visible contributions to the organization. Only then did she have the power to effect significant change.

Ignoring middle managers...

Table of contents

• Title
• Disclaimer
• Contents
• Context
• Overview
• Summary
• Timeline
• Cast of Characters
• Direct Quotes and Analysis
• Trivia
• What’s That Word?
• Critical Response
• About Adam Grant
• For Your Information
• Copyright