Think Again for Thinking Ahead

If the amount of margin notes and highlights is how you determine the value of a book, you can see Think Again by Adam Grant was a clear win for me. ✍️

I sought out a few books to read to help me consider the impacts of AI on my work and the work of my clients’ teams and to research further some of my early instincts about how markets will evolve.

Think Again was written before the explosion in Generative AI. Still, it is highly relevant to how we will all need to rethink many aspects of work, our relationship with work, and how we go about doing our work as AI grows more sophisticated and evolves.

I started diving into AI products in 2019 and have been amazed at how fast progress is moving. I’ve benefited from being an early adopter of technology throughout my career. Still, I will admit that thinking through the ripple effects of AI is even broader than the ripple effects of previous digital disruptions. It may simply be because I have lived through previous digital disruptions (online publishing, e-commerce, social media, automation, etc.) that I see the ripple effects forming before they hit the shores.

From innovative tech startups that live on the leading edge to the mid-market and clunky enterprise organizations that still have digital transformation debt, AI is creating ripples for us all.

We can choose to ignore it, fear it, or learn how to innovate and grow with it.

🌟One amazingly relevant quote from the book:

“Choosing a career isn’t like finding a soul mate. It’s possible that your ideal job hasn’t even been invented yet. Old industries are changing, and new industries are emerging faster than ever before: it wasn’t that long ago that Google, Uber and Instagram didn’t exist. Your future self doesn’t exist right now either, and your interest might change over time.”

Key Takeaways

I am sharing a few key takeaways from my margin notes from the book to understand the lens through which I read this book:

1. “Yet in a turbulent world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and relearn.”

My notes: AI will force this more deeply than anything in more than a generation, particularly as it forces us to examine our own self-worth.

2. Questioning ourselves makes the world more unpredictable. It requires us to admit that the facts might have changed, that once what was right may now be wrong.

My notes: In an unpredictable world, questioning ourselves will make our world feel even more like it is built on quicksand, often causing fight-or-flight reactions.

3. We need to develop the habit of forming our own second opinions.

My notes: We will have to verify and authenticate much more about the world than we are accustomed to doing and in unexpected ways.

4. The curse of knowledge is that is closes our minds to what we don’t know. Good judgement depends on having the skill — and the will — to open our minds.

My notes: To truly benefit from AI’s full power, we will have to cede some control and belief that we know best. Knowing when and being willing will become exceptionally important.

5. Research shows that when people are resistant to change, it helps to reinforce what will stay the same. Visions for change are more compelling when they include visions of continuity. Although our strategy might evolve, our identity will endure.

My notes: This is a critical tactic to use in transitioning our employee experiences and customer experiences, including the deployment of AI. It is essential to communicate that the foundation for trust remains even when the form of work/communication/use changes.

6. “A rivalry exists whenever we reserve special animosity for a group we see as competing with us for resources or threatening our identities….We don’t just identify with our group, we disidentify with our adversaries, coming to define who we are by what we’re not.”

My notes: Community-driven marketing is becoming an important growth lever. In a world where AI is ubiquitous, I predict that it will become far more important. In a community-driven approach, remember to message what we are not to the tribe.

7. Evidence shows that when teams try to downplay a rivalry by reminding fans that it’s just a game, it backfires. Fans feel their identity is being devalued and actually become more aggressive.

My notes: Downplaying is the opposite of how to use community-driven marketing. Keep community-driven messaging focused on purpose and aligning with that purpose.

8. Psychologists find that people will ignore or even deny the existence of a problem if they’re not fond of the solution.

My notes: This quote helps explain the need for demand generation over lead generation. People need to not only be aware of your solution to their problem. They need to like it.

9. “Evidence shows that if false scientific beliefs aren’t addressed in elementary school, they become harder to change later…that’s what kids really need: frequent practice at unlearning…”

My notes: This same concept will apply to younger workers and become especially important.

10. “In the field of history education, there’s a growing movement to ask questions that don’t have a single right answer.”

My notes: This has an interesting correlation to Google’s NORA or No One Right Answer philosophy with AI and where it excels (to date).