"Granted" Newsletter, December 2017 by Adam Grant

In this month's "Granted" newsletter, Adam Grant brings us articles about: the important difference between intelligence and critical thinking, the importance of knowledge for reading comprehension, the benefits that come from overcoming challenging circumstances, and the need for more women in leadership roles. Click on each article title to read more. You can subscribe to the "Granted" newsletter here.

Granted: December 2017

Too often, people ask for advice and then ignore it. You're never obligated to follow a mentor's advice, but you should always show that you've considered it. Here are some favorite recent articles for your consideration:

1. Why Do Smart People Do Foolish Things? Being smart doesn't prevent stupid decisions, but critical thinking does. Be an amiable skeptic: treat your beliefs as hypotheses to be tested, and refine them based on evidence. 2. How to Get Your Mind to Read Teach reading but not knowledge, and you get a society that's technically literate but functionally illiterate. A great education emphasizes information, not only skills. 3. The Secrets of Resilience To build resilience, take on long-form projects that feel like challenges rather than threats. Hard things that aren’t emotional or unexpected help us practice for those that are. 4. Training Programs and Reporting Systems Won’t End Sexual Harassment. Promoting More Women Will Mandatory sexual harassment training often backfires with the men who need it most. Since harassment is most rampant in male-dominated organizations, a better solution is hiring and promoting more women into leadership roles. (And to all the companies buying sexual harassment insurance, how about instead, you stop promoting sexual harassers into power?)

From My Desk:

5. Holiday Blues: Four Mistakes We Make When Comforting Friends Who Are Struggling Here's some unsolicited advice: when people are struggling, don't give unsolicited advice. Tell them they won't go through this alone—and show up for them. Sheryl Sandberg and I share what we've learned about supporting others through the holidays.

Here are some of the questions you asked last month—click any question for my response, plus my favorite resources on 7 other topics you raised:

In a job application, how can I demonstrate character or social/emotional skills?

How do I prevent my support network from turning into an echo chamber?

What is the meaning of life?

Submit your own questions to wondering@adamgrant.net. Include your first name and city, or ask to be anonymous, and I'll pick a few next month to answer here.

And you might be interested in First Search by First Round, a just-launched database of curated, high-quality writing on all aspects of starting and growing a company.

Cheers, Adam

Adam Grant, Ph.D.

Author of ORIGINALS and GIVE AND TAKE, coauthor of OPTION B, and Wharton professor.

Do you have any thoughts on these topics? Please leave a comment below

"Granted" Newsletter November 2017, by Adam Grant

In this month's "Granted" newsletter, Adam Grant brings us thought provoking articles about: proven strategies for brainstorming, how to empathize appropriately, and how to deal with difficult people in you personal and professional life. Click on each article title to read more. You can subscribe to the "Granted" newsletter here.

GRANTED November 2017:

Great mentors don’t tell you what to think. They teach you how to think. Here are some of the articles that have shaped the way I think this month:

1. Research: For Better Brainstorming, Tell an Embarrassing Story After brainstorming groups introduced themselves with embarrassing stories, they generated 26% more ideas and had 15% more variety. 2. Why We Should All Stop Saying "I Know Exactly How You Feel" When someone is suffering, avoid saying "I know how you feel." We don't—and we should focus on their experience, not ours. 3. Why We Contradict Ourselves and Confound Each Other Nobel Prize winner Danny Kahneman explains that overconfidence is a failure of imagination. If you want to improve your judgment, practice the art of imagining alternatives to your expectations. 4. A Stanford Psychologist On the Art of Avoiding Assholes "One of the simplest—but admittedly hardest—things you can do is learn to not give a shit."

From My Desk:

5. Kids, Would You Please Start Fighting? Too many parents teach kids to stay silent when they disagree. I object. Silence disrespects our ability to have a civil argument and it disrespects the value of your views. “Let’s agree to disagree” shouldn’t end a discussion. It should start a new conversation, where the goal of understanding each other supersedes the goal of persuading each other.

Here are some of the questions you asked last month—click any question for my response, plus my favorite resources on 10 other topics you raised:

How can you find inner peace as a restless high achiever?

What are your suggestions for fighting past "Imposter Syndrome"?

Should we trust the results of studies with only a few hundred people?

Submit your own questions to wondering@adamgrant.net. Include your first name and city, or ask to be anonymous, and I'll pick a few next month to answer here.

Submit a Question

Cheers, Adam

Adam Grant, Ph.D. Author of ORIGINALS and GIVE AND TAKE, coauthor of OPTION B, and Wharton professor.

"Granted" Newsletter, October 2017: by Adam Grant

In this month's "Granted" newsletter, Adam Grant brings us thought provoking articles about: the benefits of working from home, how opinions can be changed, and the Japanese concept for a fulfilling life. Click on each article title to read more. You can subscribe to the "Granted" newsletter here.

Granted October 2017:

Creative work doesn't happen at a steady pace. It comes in bursts—sprints that follow false starts, daydreams, and dead ends. These were some of my favorite sources of inspiration this past month:

1. Facts Don't Change People's Minds. Here's What Does To stay open-minded, separate your opinions from your identity. Who you are is about what you value, not what you believe. 2. Why Working from Home Should Be Standard Practice Employees randomly assigned to work from home were 13.5% more productive—and half as likely to quit. 3. Trying to Get Ahead? Plan in Reverse, Study Suggests Instead of planning steps from now to a difficult goal, plan backward from success. It makes the plan clearer and more motivating, and makes you more likely to achieve it. 4. Ikigai: A Japanese Concept to Improve Work and Life My new favorite word: ikigai. Here's what it looks like at work:

From My Desk:

5. Kristen Wiig Is Not Afraid to Fail If you want to keep learning, the moment you feel fully comfortable in a job is the moment it's time to find a new project. When I interviewed Kristen Wiig, she told me how to be funnier—and then told me not to try. 6. To Connect with Your Audience, Be Vulnerable Good communicators make themselves look smart. Great communicators make their audiences feel smart.

All of the above words are from Adam Grant's monthly newsletter "Granted." You can subscribe here to receive Adam's newsletter directly to your email on a monthly basis.