Publisher’s write-up:
‘Think Again is a book about the benefit
of doubt, and about how we can get better at embracing the unknown and the joy
of being wrong. Evidence has shown that creative geniuses are not attached to
one identity, but constantly willing to rethink their stances and that leaders
who admit they don't know something and seek critical feedback lead more
productive and innovative teams.
New evidence shows us that as a mindset
and a skilllset, rethinking can be taught and Grant explains how to develop the
necessary qualities to do it. Section 1 explores why we struggle to think again
and how we can learn to do it as individuals, arguing that 'grit' alone can
actually be counterproductive. Section 2 discusses how we can help others think
again through learning about 'argument literacy'. And the final section 3 looks
at how schools, businesses and governments fall short in building cultures that
encourage rethinking.
In the end, learning to rethink may be
the secret skill to give you the edge in a world changing faster than ever.’
Think Again is a
self-help book written by the psychologist and professor, Adam Grant. This book
emphasises the importance of rethinking and relearning considering we often fall
into the trap of ‘best practices’. The author gives several examples of success
where the persons involved managed great things by managing to rethink and act
differently in a situation and those who are intelligent in the traditional
sense ended up in failure.
The author
starts the book with the incident among a group of firefighters, where most
tragically lost their lives even though they followed exactly what was taught
to them, except for one who thought differently in the book and did something that
was never in any of the manuals. The author’s point is that while the
traditional understanding of intelligence is to think and learn, it is equally
important in the modern sense to rethink and unlearn.
Considering that
the book was written recently, in the post covid-19 era, the examples given are
relatable and the author even cites examples of early failures arising because
of a failure to rethink and unlearn what they knew till date. The examples
cited were very interesting, where the author cited multiple personality types
– about people getting into a ‘preacher’ mode when it comes to ideas they
believe in and a ‘prosecutor’ mode when it is related to an idea that they do
not agree with. This was the first time where I saw someone argue that the ‘impostor
syndrome’ is not necessarily bad, and having that forces oneself to rethink and
relearn than the ones who are certain – and the author backed it up with data
to suggest that there was no data to suggest that those who considered
themselves as impostors performed worse that their peers who did not hold such views.
However, there
were parts of the book where I do not believe are practical, either in terms of
safety or in terms of one’s mental health, where the author gives the example
of Daryl Davis, an American singer from the African American community who had
convinced several members of the Ku Klux Klan by engaging with them and
enabling them to rethink their positions. Even if one ignores the safety
aspect, often, a discussion with someone who holds such views would leave oneself
very upset for having such a conversation in the first place (here I am
speaking for myself).
Some of the
author’s conclusions were extreme from what I saw, in some ways arguing that
those who have IQ or are considered conventionally intelligent are at a disadvantage
as they could identify patterns with ease, and thus go by a past trend rather
than rethinking (giving the example of Lazaridis who was adamant about
Blackberry’s design).
This book is an
interesting and a rather easy read, and could give you some tips and a lot of
confidence to those who have a lot of doubts about where they are. Whether all
of these suggestions are practical, only time would tell. Considering my
personal experience with the book, I award the book a rating of seven on ten.
Rating – 7/10
Andy
