#112 Adam Grant: Rethinking Your Position
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant, Professor at The Wharton School, explores rethinking our own views and those of others. He discusses building psychological safety, improving hiring processes, and detaching identity from beliefs to embrace learning and adaptability.
Deep Dive Analysis
18 Topic Outline
Introduction to Rethinking and Its Importance
Why Rethinking Ourselves is Challenging
Shifting Identity from Beliefs to Values
Understanding Overconfidence vs. Rethinking Cycles
Balancing Openness with Decisive Action
Implementing Process Accountability in Decisions
Designing a Rigorous Hiring Process
Building Psychological Safety in Teams
The Four Mental Modes: Preacher, Prosecutor, Politician, Scientist
The Appeal of Confident Leaders and Its Pitfalls
Group Identity, Tribes, and Optimal Distinctiveness
Strategies for Changing Others' Views
Overcoming Feigned Knowledge and Logic Bullying
Fostering Rethinking in Children and Education
The Joy and Value of Being Wrong
Avoiding Binary Bias in Thinking
Amazon's Decision-Making Practices
Responding to 'I'm Entitled to My Opinion'
12 Key Concepts
Overconfidence Cycle
This cycle begins when individuals are proud of what they think they know, leading to strong convictions. This conviction then fuels confirmation bias and desirability bias, causing them to seek information that validates their existing beliefs, ultimately reinforcing their pride and closing them off to rethinking.
Rethinking Cycle
This cycle starts with intellectual humility, which is the awareness of what one doesn't know. This humility leads to doubting convictions, fostering curiosity, and opening the mind to new discoveries, thereby promoting continuous learning and mental flexibility.
Intellectual Humility
The understanding and acknowledgment of the limits of one's own knowledge. It involves being aware of one's ignorance, which in turn leads to questioning existing convictions and cultivating curiosity, making one more open to new information and perspectives.
Process Accountability
A system of evaluation that rewards people based on the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of their decision-making process, rather than solely on the eventual outcome. This approach encourages learning and experimentation, especially when outcomes are uncertain or take a long time to manifest.
Psychological Safety
An environment where individuals feel safe to take risks, voice concerns, challenge norms, or admit mistakes without fear of punishment, humiliation, or negative repercussions. It is fundamentally built on trust and mutual respect among team members.
Preacher Mode
A mental mode where an individual believes they have already found the truth and their primary goal is to convince others of it. In this mode, one's own views are often frozen, and there is little openness to changing one's mind.
Prosecutor Mode
A mental mode where an individual identifies someone else as wrong and their objective is to prove that person incorrect and win the argument. This mode focuses on discrediting opposing views rather than seeking truth or understanding.
Politician Mode
A mental mode where an individual's views are flexible, but they change them not to find truth, but to curry favor with a particular group or 'tribe.' The goal is to gain approval and support, often leading to 'flip-flopping' for the wrong reasons.
Scientist Mode
A mental mode where an individual treats their views as theories or hypotheses to be tested with evidence and logic. The primary goal is to get the answer right, leading to mental flexibility and a willingness to change one's mind for the right reasons.
Illusion of Explanatory Depth
The cognitive bias where people overestimate their understanding of how things work. This illusion is often revealed when individuals are asked to explain a concept or process in detail, making them realize the gaps in their knowledge and fostering intellectual humility.
Binary Bias
The tendency to simplify complex issues, beliefs, or categories into two opposing sides or options, thereby overlooking the nuances, spectrums, and multiple perspectives that often exist. This simplification can hinder deeper understanding and problem-solving.
Optimal Distinctiveness
A social psychological theory that describes the human desire to simultaneously satisfy two competing needs: the need to belong (fit in with a group) and the need to be unique (stand out from others). This is often achieved by joining groups that are distinct or unusual.
10 Questions Answered
Rethinking makes the world feel more unpredictable and can challenge our identity as experts, as many people take pride in their knowledge and associate it with their status and standing in the world.
By defining identity through a set of core values (e.g., generosity, excellence, integrity, freedom) and remaining flexible on the best ways to live those values, rather than clinging to fixed beliefs.
An overconfidence cycle starts with pride in knowledge, leading to conviction and bias that reinforces existing beliefs, while a rethinking cycle begins with intellectual humility, leading to doubt, curiosity, and new discoveries.
Leaders can build psychological safety by openly criticizing themselves and sharing their own development areas, which demonstrates vulnerability, shows they can take criticism, and fosters mutuality and open dialogue within the team.
People often operate as Preachers (proselytizing their truth), Prosecutors (proving others wrong), Politicians (currying favor with a group), or Scientists (treating views as theories to be tested and updated).
In times of crisis and uncertainty, we are drawn to people who project confidence and a clear vision, mistaking their certainty for competence, which can give us a sense of coherence and purpose and remove uncertainty.
Frame disagreement as a 'dance' where both parties are open to movement, start by identifying common ground, and ask 'how' questions (e.g., 'How would you implement this?') instead of 'why' questions to cultivate intellectual humility.
Encourage children to act like 'fact-checkers' by rewriting history based on primary sources, engage in 'myth-busting' discussions, and share personal mistakes and regrets to normalize being wrong and learning from them.
Binary bias is the tendency to simplify complex issues into only two opposing categories, which is problematic because it overlooks nuance, shades of gray, and the spectrum of beliefs and solutions that often exist.
You are entitled to your opinion if you keep it to yourself, but if you voice it, you have a responsibility to be open to changing your mind in the face of better logic or stronger data, otherwise you are no longer thinking like a scientist.
29 Actionable Insights
1. Tie Identity to Flexibility
Let go of knowledge and opinions that no longer serve you well by tying your identity to flexibility rather than consistency. This allows for continuous learning and adaptation.
2. Identity is About Values, Not Beliefs
Define your identity by a set of core values (e.g., generosity, excellence, integrity, freedom) rather than specific beliefs. This allows you to remain flexible on the best ways to live those values.
3. Adopt Scientist Mindset
Approach your views as theories or hypotheses, and run experiments in your life to test their truth. This leads to greater mental flexibility and willingness to change your mind for the right reasons.
4. Prioritize Outcome Over Ego
To facilitate rethinking, prioritize achieving the best possible outcome over personal ego. This means focusing on finding the best idea regardless of its source.
5. Embrace the Joy of Being Wrong
Cultivate an emotional response where discovering you were wrong is a delight. This signifies learning and becoming “less wrong” than before.
6. Define Conditions for Changing Mind
To think like a scientist and avoid preacher/prosecutor mode, explicitly identify the conditions under which you would change your mind on a belief or opinion.
7. Detach Ideas from Identity
View every idea as a hypothesis, detaching your opinions and ideas from your personal identity. This fosters an unbiased pursuit of truth and maximizes learning.
8. Embrace Rethinking Cycles
Consciously allow yourself to engage in rethinking cycles. These cycles start with intellectual humility and curiosity, leading to continuous learning and adaptation.
9. Leaders Self-Criticize Publicly
Leaders should openly criticize themselves and share their development areas with their team. This fosters psychological safety and mutuality by demonstrating vulnerability and inviting help.
10. Implement Process Accountability
In organizations, reward and evaluate people based on the thoroughness and thoughtfulness of their decision-making process, not solely on the eventual outcome. This fosters a learning culture.
11. Assess Decision Reversibility & Consequence
Before making hard decisions, evaluate if they are reversible and how consequential they are. Act quickly on reversible or low-stakes decisions, but spend more time rethinking irreversible and high-stakes ones.
12. Ask “How” Not “Why” Questions
Instead of asking “why” someone believes something (which can reinforce their conviction), ask “how” they would implement or explain their idea. This cultivates intellectual humility and reveals gaps in their understanding.
13. Ask for Disconfirming Evidence
When someone challenges your evidence or claims false knowledge, ask them what specific evidence would change their mind. This refocuses the conversation on data and agreed-upon methods.
14. Cultivate Slow, Deep Thinking
Prioritize and cultivate slow, deep thinking over fast, shallow thinking, especially for important decisions. This is where most effective rethinking occurs.
15. Be Open to Changing Opinions
If you voice an opinion, be willing to change it in the face of better logic or stronger data. This demonstrates scientific thinking rather than preacher or prosecutor mode.
16. Show Trust to Earn Trust
To build trust, especially as a leader, initiate vulnerability and show trust in others by openly sharing your own weaknesses and asking for their help or feedback.
17. Frame Disagreement as a Dance
When engaging in disagreement, view it as a collaborative ‘dance’ where both parties move and adapt. This is a different goal from trying to change somebody else’s mind.
18. Find Common Ground First
When entering a disagreement, start by identifying areas of agreement to establish synchrony and a non-defensive, collaborative tone. This sets a collaborative stage before addressing differences.
19. Design Rigorous Hiring Process
Before looking at candidates, clearly define independent criteria for skills and values, and gather wisdom from knowledgeable people. Then, rigorously assess candidates on specific dimensions by having different interviewers focus on one dimension each.
20. Implement Silent Memo Reading in Meetings
Start senior leadership meetings with silent reading of a memo (15-30 minutes) to ensure everyone has carefully processed the information. This fosters focused attention and common understanding before discussion.
21. Don’t Confuse Confidence with Competence
Be wary of people who are overly confident in their opinions. Confidence does not equate to competence and can be a sign of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
22. Clarify Advice-Seeking Goals
When someone seeks your advice, ask them to clarify their goals (e.g., seeking advice, validation, or a challenge to their thought process). This helps tailor your response effectively and avoid being a “logic bully.”
23. Complexify Binaries into Spectrum
Counter binary bias by recognizing that most issues exist on a spectrum, seeing nuance and shades of gray rather than just two opposing categories.
24. View Negative Emotions as Teachable Moments
Instead of denying negative emotions like regret, listen to them to learn from past mistakes. This helps you figure out how to act differently in the future.
25. Share Personal Failures in Values
When teaching values, share personal stories of how you failed to live up to your own values. This demonstrates that it’s okay to be wrong and rethink choices.
26. Hold Myth-Busting Discussions
Engage in occasional myth-busting discussions with children, where everyone brings a surprising fact or myth. This fosters the joy of being wrong and learning new things.
27. Rewrite History to Learn
To teach critical thinking, have students rewrite sections of history textbooks by consulting primary sources. This helps them realize missing information and question narratives like fact-checkers.
28. Join Unique Groups
Satisfy the twin desires for belonging and status by joining unique groups that offer a clear identity and differentiate themselves. This provides optimal distinctiveness.
29. Ask More Questions
In negotiations or disagreements, ask more questions driven by genuine curiosity. This helps to better understand the other person’s perspective.
6 Key Quotes
You're entitled to your own opinion if you keep your opinion to yourself. If you decide to say it out loud, then I think you have a responsibility to be open to changing your mind in the face of better logic or stronger data.
Adam Grant
If you can't answer that question [when would I change my mind?], you are no longer thinking like a scientist. You've gone into preacher or prosecutor mode.
Adam Grant
For me, an identity is not about what you believe, it's about what you value.
Adam Grant
Just because somebody is sure of an opinion does not mean they actually know what they're talking about.
Adam Grant
It is such a delight to discover that something you thought was true was actually false because now you know you've learned something.
Adam Grant
If I find out I was wrong, it means I am now less wrong than I was before.
Daniel Kahneman
2 Protocols
Structured Hiring Decision Process
Adam Grant- Define clear, independent criteria for the skills and values desired before looking at candidates, building wisdom from a crowd of knowledgeable people.
- Rigorously and comprehensively assess candidates on specific criteria by assigning different interviewers to solely evaluate one dimension (e.g., 'giver' vs. 'taker'), gathering behavioral data.
- Pool all knowledge from individual, focused assessments to make an overall judgment about whether the candidate meets the established criteria.
Building Psychological Safety by Leader Self-Criticism
Adam Grant- Leaders openly criticize themselves out loud, for example, by bringing in their performance review and sharing what their boss told them they need to work on.
- Leaders ask their team for input on whether they are making progress in these areas, creating a dialogue and mutuality.
- Teams can establish ongoing practices, such as a 'first five minutes of every meeting check-in' for improvement or monthly 'vulnerability meetings' to discuss development areas and struggles.