Today it’s great to have Adam Grant on the podcast. Adam is an organizational psychologist at Wharton, where he has been the top-rated professor for seven straight years. He is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of four books that have sold millions of copies and been translated into 35 languages. His work has been praised by J.J. Abrams, Bill and Melinda Gates, and many others. Grant’s TED talks have been viewed more than 20 million times, and he hosts the chart-topping TED podcast WorkLife with Adam Grant. He has been recognized as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers, Fortune’s 40 under 40, Oprah’s Super Soul 100, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Adam received distinguished scientific achievement awards from the American Psychological Association and the National Science Foundation. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Allison and their three children.
Topics
[4:17] What is rethinking?
[7:02] “Preachers, prosecutors, and politicians”
[8:08] Why we need to cultivate a scientific attitude
[11:48] The path to being effective
[12:17] Linking character and success
[16:10] Adam’s new construct of character
[20:42] The importance of authenticity and integrity
[25:05] The role of consistency in exercising our values
[30:37] The role of integrity in politics
[33:07] The tension between personality and pursuing values
[36:08] “A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing”
[38:32] The trap of cognitive entrenchment
[40:50] The importance of having diverse interests
[41:40] Cognitive underpinnings of thinking again
[42:31] Actively open-minded thinking
[45:53] The benefits of disagreeableness
[51:42] Selfishness as the 6th factor of personality
[57:31] Why “agreeing to disagree” is wrong
[1:00:04] How to destabilize stereotypes
[1:05:25] Psychological safety in universities
[1:09:40] What “good faith” means
[1:11:18] Crossing psychological safety with accountability
[1:12:59] What Scott thinks Adam should rethink
[1:17:26] The importance of benevolence and universalism