Breaking out of the echo chamber

I'll admit I was quite wary before opening Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. My expectations were high, having seen it on nearly everyone’s list of ‘books you must read in 2016 (if you still want to seem relevant/cool/interesting)’. But it really is a superb book, full of stories and anecdotes to bring behavioural theory to life, and practical enough to give you ideas for things to do differently when you walk into the office tomorrow. Most importantly, it scored highly on my scientific ‘fold page for interesting bits’ method.

Adam Grant starts by focusing on idea generation, challenging conventional thinking by noting that “people fail because they generate a few ideas and then obsess about refining them”, citing Thomas Edison’s 1093 patents as proof that the opposite approach is more successful. He also champions the importance of ‘divergent thinking’, finding connections and considering options instead of rushing to shut down a particular idea.

Happily, Grant doesn’t follow the well-trodden path of many books on creativity, which stop as soon as the light bulb has been switched on. He goes on to explore how to choose the best ideas, asserting that “the biggest barrier to originality isn’t idea generation but idea selection”, and details several ways in which we can make our final choices more considered, including a healthy dose of cynicism towards focus groups and a championing of colleague feedback to offer a truly honest appraisal. His claim that, “company performance improves when CEOs actively gather advice from people who aren’t their friends” is particularly pertinent in our current world of curated content and engulfing echo chambers.

The author even goes so far as to delve into the subject of getting buy-in, a topic close to the heart of any employee of a large, complex corporation. Having again stressed the importance of taking time to make a decision (a subtle theme throughout the book), he drives home the message that “the most inspiring way to convey a vision is to outsource it to the people who are actually affected by it”, challenging the often-used ‘CEO on a stage’ approach to internal communications.

It’s always a good sign when you’re buying copies of a book, for other people to ask to borrow it before you’ve got to the end yourself. So if you don’t own it already, you’re welcome to borrow my copy – as long as folded page corners don’t offend you.

This review was taken from the March 2017 issue of Market Leader.