Questioning our beliefs and value systems is hard, but regularly revisiting, reimagining, and reconsidering our established patterns, protocols, and perspectives may help us understand why we do what we do and why it is so important to us that we do it. To think again means to retain an open mind and invite opportunities to grow.
Think Again surprised me with an incredibly clean writing style. With it, Adam Grant truly demonstrates rethinking in practice and how it makes the reading experience so much more captivating. Think Again is partitioned into individual, interpersonal, and collective rethinking. Among the many intriguing ideas in this book, his ideas around “modes” stand out. In essence, the author believes, we are all subject to four modes that govern or at least influence our actions. We are either preachers, politicians, prosecutors, or scientists. Sometimes we will find ourselves channeling a combination of different modes for no good reason other than to make a point. In the view of the author, however, we have an opportunity to grow if we keep the preacher, politician, and prosecutor in us at bay and leverage our inner scientists to test hypotheses, seek evidence, and revise our convictions.
On its face, Think Again states the obvious. But I can’t remember a recent book that had a greater impact on my own modus operandi. As I write these lines, I can’t help but think about my protocol or approach to book reviews, social media, and blogging. How do I read books? What are my lessons? And am I carrying each lesson forward? What happens to my notes? Is this blog an excuse for taking fewer notes? Or engage in less reflection of the content? Grant acknowledges a state of paralysis or feelings of discomfort may be a side-effect of rethinking and unlearning. These feelings can quickly become unsettling and depressing. While he advocates for a metrics-based method to mitigate paralysis, basically measuring everything like a scientist would and comparing the before and after, we are not scientists in our daily, real lives – at least most of us. Moreover, we are fallible humans. Therefore his advice to simply break down processes, measure their components, and embrace the uncertainty that arises from rethinking isn’t convincing enough because it places us at the hands of discipline, for those of us who can summon it, or the subject of our whims, for those who can’t.
This book will find a permanent home on my desk within reach. Even if it only serves as a reminder that our established protocols and patterns sometimes need adjustment or justification.