Highlights from "Think Again"
By Adam Grant
If you're a scientist by trade, rethinking is fundamental to your profession. You're paid to be constantly aware of the limits of your understanding. You're expected to doubt what you know, be curious about what you don’t know, and update your views based on new data.
The risk is that we become so wrapped up in preaching that we're right, prosecuting others who are wrong, and politicking for support that we don't bother to rethink our own views.
When we're in scientist mode, we refuse to let our ideas become ideologies. We don't start with answers or solutions; we lead with questions and puzzles. We don't preach from intuition; we teach from evidence. We don't just have healthy skepticism about other people's arguments; we dare to disagree with our own arguments.
If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom.
Scientific thinking favors humility over pride, doubt over certainty, curiosity over closure.
Research shows that when people are resistant to change, it helps to reinforce what will stay the same.