Originals

How Non-Conformists Change the World

By: Adam Grant, Sheryl Sandberg - foreword

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

The New York Times best-selling author examines how people can drive creative, moral and organisational progress - and how leaders can encourage originality in their organisations.

How can we originate new ideas, policies and practices without risking it all? Adam Grant shows how to improve the world by championing novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battling conformity and bucking outdated traditions.

Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act and manage fear and doubt. Parents will learn how to nurture originality in children, and leaders will discover how to fight groupthink to build cultures that welcome dissent.

Told through dazzling case studies of people going against the grain, you'll encounter an entrepreneur who pitches the reasons not to invest, a woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below, an analyst who challenged secrecy at the CIA, a billionaire financial wizard who fires employees who don't criticize him and the TV executive who saved Seinfeld from the cutting room floor. Originals will give you groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and how to change the world.

©2016 Adam Grant (P)2016 Random House AudioBooks

Critic reviews

" Originals is one of the most important and captivating books I have ever read, full of surprising and powerful ideas. It will not only change the way you see the world; it might just change the way you live your life. And it could very well inspire you to change your world." (Sheryl Sandberg, best-selling author of Lean In)

Good, but not.awesome

It's a good read, with some real useful pieces of information dispersed throughout and it dispels strongly held myths about creative and original people. However I expected more depth and a better golden thread to keep it together.

A Phycological approach to Originals

This book start very well and is enjoyable as well as informative. But it is not life changing or thought provoking, very informative on a phycological level.

Insightful

Insightful, smart, sometimes surprising but all delivered in an entertaining fashion. Drawing on a mixture of anecdotal and academic sources - this book is a must read/listen.

brilliant book....very well narratted

Adam Grant and his hypothesis blows your mind. The power of statistics and reasoning was never called upon so well, in my reading experience. Insightful and actionable

A Must for those Interested in Innovation

I am a fan of innovation hence I did a lot of readings and consume a lot of media about the subject. I also listen to Adam Grant's video clips (yes, listen). Despite those, I was surprised to still learn a lot about the subject.

Implies causation from small studies

While the book is interesting in some of its propositions, it does not create great engaging narratives and the scientific evidence is not compelling. The arguments in some places are more anecdotes mixed with small scientific studies that neither directly relate or robustly prove an underlying principle that can be clearly applied.