Most of us have this weird, cinematic image of what a "visionary" looks like. We imagine a lone wolf, probably wearing a black turtleneck, who quits their job, bets their entire life savings on a wild idea, and leaps off a cliff hoping to grow wings on the way down. It's a great story. It's also mostly a lie.
In his book Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Wharton professor Adam Grant tears this myth apart. He spent years looking at the data of people who actually changed things—from the founders of Warby Parker to the people who saved Seinfeld from being canceled. What he found is kinda shocking: the most successful originals aren't reckless daredevils. They're actually pretty terrified of risk.
The Browser Habit You Didn't Know Mattered
One of the wildest studies Grant cites involves something as boring as your internet browser. An economist named Michael Housman was looking at why some customer service reps stayed at their jobs longer than others. He noticed a bizarre pattern. The employees who used Firefox or Chrome stayed at their jobs 15% longer than those who used Internet Explorer or Safari.
They also performed better. Why? It’s not that Firefox makes you smarter. It’s that to get Firefox or Chrome, you have to actively reject the default.
Internet Explorer and Safari come pre-installed. They are the "status quo." To get something else, you have to be resourceful enough to realize there’s a better option and then take the initiative to download it. That tiny act of non-conformity—refusing the default—is the hallmark of an original mind.
Why You Should Keep Your Day Job
If you’re thinking about starting a business, you’ve probably heard people say you need to "burn the ships" and go all in. Grant says that’s terrible advice.
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He points to a study of entrepreneurs that found those who kept their day jobs while starting their businesses were 33% less likely to fail than those who quit right away. Honestly, it makes sense when you think about it. If you have the security of a paycheck, you don't have to compromise on your vision just to pay rent. You can afford to be more original because you aren't desperate.
Take these guys for example:
- Phil Knight started selling running shoes out of his trunk in 1964 but kept working as an accountant until 1969.
- Steve Wozniak stayed at Hewlett-Packard for a full year after co-founding Apple.
- Sara Blakely kept selling fax machines for two years while she was building Spanx.
They weren't "all in" from day one. They were balancing their risk portfolios. They took a big risk in one area (starting a company) and compensated for it by being extremely cautious in another (keeping their job).
Adam Grant Originals: The Art of Strategic Procrastination
We’re taught from kindergarten that "procrastination is the thief of time." But Grant argues that when it comes to creativity, being a bit of a slacker can actually be a superpower.
He talks about the Zeigarnik Effect, which is a fancy way of saying our brains remember incomplete tasks better than finished ones. When you start a project and then walk away to play video games or do the dishes, your mind keeps working on it in the background. This "incubation" period allows for more divergent thinking.
Even Martin Luther King Jr. was a world-class procrastinator. He was still rewriting his "I Have a Dream" speech in his hotel room at 3:00 AM the night before the March on Washington. He didn’t even write down the "I have a dream" part until he was actually on stage. Because he left the speech open until the very last second, he was able to stay flexible and respond to the energy of the crowd.
Quantity Leads to Quality
There’s this annoying perfectionist streak in a lot of us that says we shouldn't produce anything unless it’s a masterpiece. Grant says that’s the fastest way to fail.
If you want to have a great idea, you need to have a lot of ideas. Period.
- Thomas Edison had over 1,000 patents, but only a handful truly changed the world.
- Picasso created over 1,800 paintings and 12,000 drawings. Most of them aren't famous.
- Beethoven produced over 600 musical compositions.
The most original people aren't the ones who have the highest "hit rate." They’re the ones who fail the most because they try the most. They understand that you have to kiss a lot of frogs—or write a lot of bad sentences—to find the prince.
How to Pitch Your Worst Idea
One of my favorite takeaways from the book is about how to sell a new idea. Usually, we try to hide the flaws. We act like everything is perfect.
Grant tells the story of Rufus Griscom, the founder of Babble. When he pitched his company to investors, he did the opposite: he gave them a slide deck titled "5 Reasons Not to Invest in My Company."
It worked. He raised $3.3 million.
Leading with your weaknesses does a couple of things. First, it makes you look smart and honest. Second, it makes it harder for the person listening to come up with their own objections—you’ve already done it for them. Instead of looking for what’s wrong with your plan, they start looking for why it might actually work.
Breaking the Groupthink Trap
The "Adam Grant Originals" philosophy isn't just for individuals; it’s for companies too. Most businesses talk about "culture fit," but Grant thinks that's a trap. "Culture fit" is often just code for "hiring people who think exactly like us."
Instead, you should hire for culture add.
Original organizations don't just tolerate dissent; they crave it. But there’s a catch. You don't want "devils advocates" who are just pretending to disagree for the sake of the exercise. Research shows that assigned dissenters don't actually help. You need people who actually disagree—those who have a different perspective and aren't afraid to be the "tempered radical" in the room.
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Actionable Next Steps
If you want to start moving the world (or even just your office) toward a better version of itself, try these three things:
- Triple your output. Stop trying to make your one project perfect. Set a goal to come up with 15 ideas today, no matter how stupid they seem. The 15th one is usually where the magic starts.
- Practice "Vuja De." This is the opposite of Deja Vu. It’s when you look at something you’ve seen a thousand times—like your morning commute or your company’s billing process—and suddenly see it with fresh eyes. Ask, "Why do we do it this way?"
- Hedge your bets. If you have a radical idea, don't quit your life to pursue it yet. Find a way to test it on the side. The security of your "boring" life will give you the creative freedom to be truly weird.
Originality isn't a fixed trait you're born with. It’s a choice. It’s the choice to look at the default settings of the world and realize that someone, somewhere, just made those up—and you can make up something better.