The blessing of being wrong
Atomic Ideas from Think Again by Adam Grant
Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world it might matter more that we can rethink and unlearn.
In fact, clinging to one’s ideas and opinions is the biggest epidemic in this ever-changing world and sharing with you, atomic ideas from the book ‘Think Again’ by Organizational psychologist, Adam Grant.
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant is an expert on opening other people's minds-and our own. As Wharton's top-rated professor and the bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, he tries to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong.
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Think Again delves into the territory of cognitive errors, biases, prejudices, and mental blind spots. It explores our failure to change our ideas once we have established them.
No matter the knowledge and experience individuals possess, they can’t avoid logical errors in their thinking process.
These include unfounded opinions, external influences, assumptions, and other subjective perceptions. Our natural tendency to rely on these distracting cognitive resources leads to poor decision-making, inflexibility, an inability to hear others and be heard, and closed-minded attitudes as well.
Conventional vs. Alternative View of Intelligence
Author Adam Grant argues that intelligence is not just a skill for thinking but an ability to rethink and forget what you've learned before.
Cognitive flexibility is the art of ignoring our instincts, even though we tend to trust our gut feelings.
Rethinking and questioning ourselves helps us stay relevant in an unstable world.
The Roles We Play
Being a preacher, prosecutor, or politician is like falling into the trap of attacking dissenting views, defending your opinion, or simply winning an argument. Grant insists that having a change of heart isn't a weakness, it validates your intellectual development.
Scientists live to comprehend the limits of their knowledge, and we can learn from them to improve our thinking process.
The Right and Wrong Type of Confidence
Overconfidence is a trait typical of people with Armchair Quarterback Syndrome.
What is an Armchair Quarterback? Armchair Quarterback Syndrome, also known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, is an over-belief in yourself without the skills or expertise to back it up. You experience moments of high confidence and act as though you can, lacking self-awareness around whether or not you should.
Not only does confident modesty allow us to recognize our flaws, but it also enables us to work at overcoming them.
The Blessing of Being Wrong
When someone points out that we are wrong, many of us react angrily and fearlessly defend what we believe. Psychologist Richard Grant says we should learn to detach our present selves from the older versions of ourselves.
He suggests that we develop a system of values instead. This will allow us to change our beliefs while staying true to our values.
The Art of Conflicting
There are essentially two types of conflicts:
Task conflicts. They occur when members of a specific team decide who should tackle a problem, what should be done and how, etc. This type of conflict is constructive because it prompts the seeking of creative solutions.
Relationship conflicts. These occur between people. Often these conflicts are detrimental because they impact interpersonal relationships negatively. However, if the parties to an argument show respect for one another, they may end up with a higher degree of compassion and cooperation.
Our society tends to regard pliability, or a tendency to avoid conflicts, as a positive trait. People who are not afraid to show disagreement with our opinions actually push us forward. They help us evaluate our abilities and find ways of improvement.
Avoid Keeping Your Eye on the Ball
It’s human nature to make plans. We have visions of where we want to live, who we want to marry, or how large we want our family to be. With all of this in mind, we tend to set boundaries. In the best-case scenario, they help us achieve our goals. More often, however, they give us tunnel vision and prevent us from seeing better possibilities.
Happy rethinking!
-ashish