Originals
Summary
Start the new year with the number one New York Times best seller that examines how people can champion new ideas - and how leaders can fight groupthink, from the author of Give and Take and co-author of Option B. âReading Originals made me feel like I was seated across from Adam Grant at a dinner party, as one of my favorite thinkers thrilled me with his insights and his wonderfully new take on the world.â (Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and The Tipping Point) âOriginals 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.â (Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of Lean In) With Give and Take, Adam Grant not only introduced a landmark new paradigm for success but also established himself as one of his generationâs most compelling and provocative thought leaders. In Originals he again addresses the challenge of improving the world, but now from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all? 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; how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children; and how leaders can build cultures that welcome dissent. Learn from an entrepreneur who pitches his start-ups by highlighting the reasons not to invest, a woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below, an analyst who overturned the rule of secrecy at the CIA, a billionaire financial wizard who fires employees for failing to criticize him, and a TV executive who didnât even work in comedy but saved Seinfeld from the cutting-room floor. The payoff is a set of groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and improving the status quo.
©2016 Adam Grant (P)2016 Penguin Audio
Think Again
Summary
"Think Again is a must-read for anyone who wants to create a culture of learning and exploration, whether at home, at work, or at school.... In an increasingly divided world, the lessons in this book are more important than ever." (Bill and Melinda Gates) The best-selling author of Give and Take and Originals examines the critical art of rethinking: learning to question your opinions and open other people's minds, which can position you for excellence at work and wisdom in life Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In our daily lives, too many of us favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn. We surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. The result is that our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. We think too much like preachers defending our sacred beliefs, prosecutors proving the other side wrong, and politicians campaigning for approval - and too little like scientists searching for truth. Intelligence is no cure, and it can even be a curse: Being good at thinking can make us worse at rethinking. The brighter we are, the blinder to our own limitations we can become. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant is an expert on opening other people's minds - and our own. As Wharton's top-rated professor and the best-selling author of Originals and Give and Take, he makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong. With bold ideas and rigorous evidence, he investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, bring nuance to charged conversations, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners. You'll learn how an international debate champion wins arguments, a Black musician persuades White supremacists to abandon hate, a vaccine whisperer convinces concerned parents to immunize their children, and Adam has coaxed Yankees fans to root for the Red Sox. Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom.
©2021 Adam Grant (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Option B
Summary
From Facebook's COO and Wharton's top-rated professor, the number-one New York Times best-selling authors of Lean In and Originals: a powerful, inspiring, and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after life's inevitable setbacks. After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. "I was in 'the void,'" she writes, "a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe." Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build. Option B combines Sheryl's personal insights with Adam's eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity. Beginning with the gut-wrenching moment when she finds her husband, Dave Goldberg, collapsed on a gym floor, Sheryl opens up her heart - and her journal - to describe the acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of his death. But Option B goes beyond Sheryl's loss to explore how a broad range of people have overcome hardships including illness, job loss, sexual assault, natural disasters, and the violence of war. Their stories reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere...and to rediscover joy. Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever lies ahead. Two weeks after losing her husband, Sheryl was preparing for a father-child activity. "I want Dave," she cried. Her friend replied, "Option A is not available," and then promised to help her make the most of Option B. We all live some form of Option B. This book will help us all make the most of it.
©2017 Sheryl Sandberg (P)2017 Random House Audio
Power Moves
Summary
Adam Grant, the New York Times best-selling author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B, went to the World Economic Forum in Davos to find out what the worldâs most visionary and influential leaders had to say about powerâand its transformative role in our society. What he learned there may surprise you. Grant delivers a heady mix of captivating interviews, compelling data, and his unmistakably incisive and actionable analysis, to give us a crash course in power that both inspires and instructs from the front lines. In interviews with two dozen CEOs, start-up founders, top scientists, and thought leadersâincluding top executives at Google, GM, Slack, and Goldman Sachs, the CEO of the Gates Foundation, and NASAâs former chief scientistâhe shares hard-earned insights on how to succeed in this new era of hyper-linked power. He also explores how power is reshaping everything from the workforce, to the rise of women in the office, to the influence of scientists on policy. As pillars of traditional power are transformed by networks of informed citizens, the use of power is increasingly seen as a force for good in the world, from one that was once coveted to one that demands to be shared.Â
©2018 Adam Grant (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.
The Gift Inside the Box
Summary
Adam Grant, the best-selling author of Give and Take, teams with his wife, Allison, to share the lighthearted tale of a gift in search of a giver - a classic in the making and the perfect conversation starter about thoughtfulness. This delightful audiobook - one of Amazon's 2019 Holiday Gift Picks and Most Anticipated Books - is designed to start conversations with kids about generosity. In the tradition of Goodnight Gorilla, the words are intentionally spare. The audiobook is meant to be listened to interactively, with adults posing questions so kids can guess what's happening (and why). Praised by both parents and teachers for sparking imagination and eliciting discussion, the story can be interpreted differently in every family, by every child, and reinterpreted many times over. Give the gift of this clever, earnest audiobook about generosity - a new and nourishing fable for every child's library. It's a gift that keeps on giving. "Truly phenomenal...Kristen [Bell]'s favorite book we've read to the kids in a year." (Dax Shepard of the podcast Armchair Expert)
©2019 Adam Grant and Allison Sweet Grant (P)2019 Listening Library
Terror to the Wicked
Summary
A little-known moment in colonial history that changed the course of Americaâs future. A riveting account of a brutal killing, an all-out manhunt, and the first murder trial in America, set against the backdrop of the Pequot War (between the Pequot tribe and the colonists of Massachusetts Bay) that ended this two-year war and brought about a peace that allowed the colonies to become a nation. The year: 1638. The setting: Providence, near Plymouth Colony. A young Nipmuc tribesman returning home from trading beaver pelts is fatally stabbed in a robbery in the woods near Plymouth Colony by a vicious white runaway indentured servant. The tribesman, fighting for his life, is able with his final breaths to reveal the details of the attack to Providenceâs governor, Roger Williams. A frantic manhunt by the fledgling government ensues to capture the killer and his gang, now the most hunted men in the New World. With their capture, the two-year-old Plymouth Colony faces overnight its first trial - a murder trial - with Plymouthâs governor presiding as judge and prosecutor, interviewing witnesses and defendants alike, and Myles Standish, Plymouth Colony authority, as overseer of the courtroom, his sidearm at the ready. The jury - Plymouth colonists, New England farmers (âa rude and ignorant sorte,â as described by former governor William Bradford) - white, male, picked from a total population of 550, knows from past persecutions the horrors of a society without a jury system. Would they be tempted to protect their own - including a cold-blooded murderer who was also a Pequot War veteran - over the life of a tribesman who had fought in a war allied against them? Tobey Pearl brings to vivid life those caught up in the drama: Roger Williams, founder of Plymouth Colony, a self-taught expert in indigenous cultures and the first investigator of the murder; Myles Standish; Edward Winslow, a former governor of Plymouth Colony and the master of the indentured servant and accused murderer; John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony; the men on trial for the murder; and the lone tribesman, from the last of the Woodland American Indians, whose life was brutally taken from him. Pearl writes of the witnesses who testified before the court and of the 12 colonists on the jury who went about their duties with grave purpose, influenced by a complex mixture of Puritan religious dictates, lingering medieval mores, new ideals of humanism, and an England still influenced by the last gasp of the English Renaissance. And she shows how, in the end, the 12 came to render a groundbreaking judicial decision that forever set the standard for American justice. An extraordinary work of historical piecing-together; a moment that set the precedence of our basic, fundamental right to trial by jury, ensuring civil liberties and establishing it as a safeguard against injustice.
©2021 Tobey Pearl (P)2021 Random House Audio
Option B
Summary
Book summary of Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant.
©2005 FLASHBOOKS, LLC (P)2017 FLASHBOOKS, LLC
Leif and the Fall
Summary
Persistence and creativity can lead to amazing things, as Leif the leaf discovers in this lovely audiobook from Allison Sweet Grant and Adam Grant, the number one New York Times best-selling author of Originals. Leif is a leaf. A worried leaf. It is autumn, and Leif is afraid to fall. "All leaves fall in the fall," say the other leaves. But Leif is determined to find a different way down, and with his friend Laurel, he uses the resources around him to create a net, a kite, a parachute in hopes of softening his landing. The clock is ticking, the wind is blowing. What will happen when a gust of wind pulls Leif from his branch? In a culture that prizes achievement, kids are often afraid to fail - failing to realize that some of the very ideas that don't work are steps along the path to ones that will.
©2020 Allison Sweet Grant and Adam Grant (P)2020 Listening Library