Originals: How Non-Conformists Move The World

Originals:  How Non-conformists move the world by Adam GrantI bought this #1 national and NYT bestseller as soon as it came out. Given that I have always been a change agent and experimenter for decades, I feel like Adam was speaking to me. Adam, an esteemed professor at the Wharton Business school, who first wrote a prior recommended reading Give and Take is one of my favorite authors. His writing style is very approachable in that he seamlessly blends research and stories together.I was curious to learn how people with original ideas can get others to buy into them. He got my attention immediately with the story of how Warby Parker, the company started by four young college students that sells affordable eye wear, debunks the myth that originals have to take huge risks to succeed. In fact, he proceeds to  show that many companies including Warby Parker barely got off the ground because the founders are working other jobs and scared to cut bait and jump in.He shares research that there are two types of creators – those that are conceptual innovators such as Albert Einstein or Steve Jobs who formulate big ideas and execute and those that are experimental innovators such as Leonardo da Vinci or Mark Twain who solve problems through trial and error.  The conceptual innovators are sprinters and tend to peak  in their early 40s, whereas the experimental innovators did their most influential work at 61. As an experimental innovator, I've come to realize why at age 55, I feel as though my best ideas are yet to come! and could relate to the story about how Leonardo da Vinci took several years to finish his most famous masterpiece, the Mona Lisa.Throughout the book, Adam shares examples and practical tips for how to increase influence at work as well as to nurture young people and children to be more original. He includes extensive examples of successes and failures of social movements and business ventures.  My favorite story was an analysis of the struggles the women’s suffrage movement from the early 1900's encountered and why the movement ended up splintered and divided.  He shares how Lucy Stone took a different approach that Susan Anthony or Elizabeth Stanton.  Lucy sought out her enemies and converted them, whereas Anthony and Stanton did the opposite and alienated them. It is a reminder that enemies can be converted and diplomacy matters.  He concludes the book with actions for impact and a summary of all of his tools.  I highly recommend this book if you want to be more innovative, see your original ideas implemented, nurture creative children, or build a more supportive and innovative work place!