Think Again — Adam Grant
Book Review
Think Again by Adam Grant is a book that I personally feel couldn’t be more fitting for the generation we are currently in. I think many of us can agree that we are living in a very polarised world, and I think one of the main causes of that could perhaps be the echo chambers created by social media. I’m sure many of us have come across this term, but it is such a real issue. People are no longer challenging their ideas and are identifying with their beliefs so closely that they are no longer open to challenging themselves.
If I were in charge of education, I would make this book compulsory for all students to read, starting in school and perhaps with another refresher at university. As someone who has recently graduated, I will say that university is meant to be a place for freedom of thought and the exploration of ideas. However, I did find that there are a good number of students, and perhaps even some staff, who aren’t willing to question themselves because they attach their identities so closely to their beliefs.
Usually, I rate my books at the end of my reviews, but because I loved this book so much, I have to say now that this is a 10/10 book. I think it is so fitting for the world we live in, and it’s a must-read for everyone. As much as I’d love to say that I’m right all the time (jokingly), this book really reinforced my belief that we are all fallible. We’re human. We aren’t going to know everything, and it’s really important to maintain that humility, or “confident humility”, as Grant terms it.
There are two insights from the book that I want to share.
1. The smarter they are, the harder they fail
Before anything else, I really liked Grant pointing out that the ability to rethink and unlearn is not praised nearly as much as the ability to think and learn.
I feel that our culture has moved so far towards efficiency that we leave very little time for rethinking and much more for fast, immediate decisions. Questioning or rethinking a decision, yourself, or your thought process can sometimes be perceived as uncertainty or a lack of confidence. I think this is a line of reasoning that we need to unlearn, because that isn’t necessarily the case.
As a recent graduate, I found the idea that “the smarter they are, the harder they fail” perhaps a little amusing to read, but I do think there is truth to it. Grant discusses research suggesting that the higher you score on an IQ test, the more likely you can be to fall for stereotypes because you are faster at recognising patterns. He also discusses two biases that can drive this: confirmation bias, where we see what we expect to see, and desirability bias, where we see what we want to see.
I love how Grant phrases this, because these biases can essentially contort our intelligence into a weapon against the truth.
I think this is important in conversations where education or expertise is sometimes used as a “gotcha”: “Where’s your degree in this?” or “How long have you been studying this for?” As much as I absolutely see the value in education, I don’t think it is good practice to automatically shut down a viewpoint simply because it hasn’t come from a particular educational institution or recognised authority.
I think it’s important to remain open-minded to views that may not fit what you have previously been taught. At the end of the day, despite the huge amount of expertise, research and experience behind our educational institutions, we are still learning as a human race, and have unlearned many popular beliefs. If you completely close your mind to other views, I think you are only willing to be educated in the way that you deem fit, and there is a form of wilful ignorance in that which we shouldn’t be promoting.
It also comes back to humility. Education does not mean that you know everything. The nature of being human is that we are fallible and we are going to make mistakes.
So, let’s say you are good at thinking. Grant’s point is that it is important to maintain enough humility that you don’t become worse at rethinking.
One way we can do this is through what Grant calls “scientist mode”, where we refuse to let our ideas become ideologies. Instead of beginning with answers or solutions, we lead with questions and look towards evidence.
I found this point interesting because I’ve also read about intuition and how important it can be to listen to it. I do believe that, as humans, sometimes we are very good at picking up on things without immediately having the words to explain why we believe something. Articulating that feeling can be a process in itself. I’m a big advocate for using intuition to guide your own personal decisions. However, preaching something to other people is different, and I do think that requires evidence.
It isn’t enough to simply say, “Be open-minded.” We have to actively practise open-mindedness by searching for reasons why we could be wrong and not waiting until somebody else tells us that we are wrong.
Of course, this is much easier said than done. When we’re in what Grant calls “preacher mode”, changing our minds can feel like a mark of moral weakness. In scientist mode, however, Grant beautifully reframes it as a sign of intellectual integrity.
I think this is where we need to learn to detach our egos from our beliefs and practise more humility. One line from the book summarises this perfectly: “the purpose of learning isn’t to affirm our beliefs; it’s to evolve our beliefs.”
2. Finding the sweet spot of confidence
Another really important part of the book for me was finding the “sweet spot” of confidence.
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I think the majority of us are vulnerable, to some extent, to a version of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Being human, we have blind spots in our knowledge and opinions, and that very blindness can give us false confidence in our judgement. The problem is that this false confidence can then prevent us from rethinking.
We therefore need to recognise our cognitive blind spots and be willing to revise our thinking accordingly.
I’m sure many of us are familiar with what Grant describes as “armchair quarterback syndrome”, especially if you’ve ever ventured into the comment sections of Facebook or Instagram. An incident happens and suddenly people are commenting on how the firefighters should have done a better job, asking, “Why didn’t they do A or B instead of C?”, despite having none of the expertise or information that the people actually dealing with the situation had.
Unfortunately, this is something many of us can fall victim to: thinking that we know more than we actually do.
At the opposite end is imposter syndrome, where competence exceeds confidence. Again, this is something many of us can probably relate to, especially when we care deeply about doing a good job.
Although these are opposite problems, neither extreme is ideal. The sweet spot lies somewhere between being the armchair quarterback and the imposter. It reminds me of the saying that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Grant explains how advancing from novice to amateur can actually break the rethinking cycle. As we gain some experience, we can lose some of our humility and begin to take pride in rapid decision-making.
I think this is particularly interesting in the context of work. You often see job descriptions asking for people who can “think under pressure” and thrive in a “fast-paced environment”. Of course, those abilities have value, but I do wonder whether our obsession with speed can sometimes encourage us to think immediately rather than rethink carefully.
Rapid progress can promote a false sense of mastery, creating an overconfidence cycle that stops us from doubting ourselves and staying curious. In other words, we can become ignorant of our own ignorance.
This is something I think is extremely important to teach in workplaces and educational institutions.
And importantly, humility does not mean low self-esteem. One of my favourite little facts from the book is that one of the Latin roots of “humility” relates to being “from the earth”. Humility is essentially about remaining grounded enough to recognise that, as human beings, our very nature is flawed and fallible.
I hadn’t really come across the phrase “confident humility” before reading this book, but Grant returns to it throughout, and it’s probably one of the biggest ideas I’ve taken away from the book. You can be confident in what you know while remaining humble enough to recognise what you don’t know.
I’ve actually written more about confident humility in a separate article, which you can read here.
Final thoughts
I think even from these two snippets, you can see why I feel this is such a needed book.
I would highly advocate for Think Again to be read in schools and universities. I genuinely think that if this kind of continuous learning and rethinking were encouraged from a younger age, perhaps the echo chambers we see today wouldn’t be quite as profound as they currently are.
Universities, in particular, need to remain places for open discussion, disagreement and debate. But beyond education, I think learning to rethink could also help us treat other people with more respect and kindness. If we recognise our own fallibility, perhaps we can extend that understanding to other people too. When somebody makes a mistake, we don’t immediately have to become angry or write them off entirely. They are flawed, and so are we. That is simply part of being human.
We can, however, strive to become better each day through rethinking, relearning and being willing to admit when we’ve got something wrong.
One of my favourite ideas from Grant is that the mark of a lifelong learner is recognising that we can learn something from everyone we meet. I think that really captures what this book is about.
So, if you have someone in mind who you think would benefit from this book, absolutely ask them to read it, or perhaps gift it to them. I think it’s a gentle way of reminding all of us that we aren’t always correct and that perhaps we could all afford to be a little more grounded in our views.
For me, Think Again is an easy 10/10. I’d absolutely recommend it.
