GRANTED: What to add to your goals and the best new fall books to read

September 2017

Life is full of contradictory ideas. Instead of asking which one is true, we should ask when each one is true.

With that in mind, here are some of my favorite recent finds:

1. Science of Storytelling
Here's a statistic worth remembering: 63% of people recalled a story from a presentation, but only 5% recalled a statistic.

2. Switching Careers Doesn't Have to Be Hard
The jobs that are hardest to automate rely on critical thinking and communication skills. We need better education and apprenticeship programs to develop those skills.

3. The Power of Anti-Goals
When you set goals, you should also set anti-goals: things you want to make sure you don't achieve. A good place to start: map out what your worst workday looks like.

4. Can Playing Board Games Make You a Nicer Person?
In college, instead of having parties, my roommates and I hosted board game nights. They’re my favorite way to practice the lost arts of fairness, critical thinking, and friendly competition.
(Except Monopoly, which always seems to end with someone throwing hotels across the room.)

From My Desk:

5. Good News for Young Strivers: Networking Is Overrated
Networking can help you achieve great things, but don't forget that achieving great things helps you build your network.
In a sequel, I argue that if you’re spending more time networking than working, you have it backwards. Create something of value and share it with others.

6. The Big Idea and Business Books that Debut This Fall
This is the most exciting set of new fall books that I've ever seen. They span happiness and resilience, leadership and innovation, and the future and family.

Here are some of the questions you asked this month—click any question for my responses, plus my favorite resources on 8 other topics you raised:

• Why do we love famous quotes, and do they actually influence our behavior?

• Can people learn to be "pre-crastinators"?

• Is it common for takers to see only the selfish qualities in others?

• What do we know about the differences between empathy and compassion?

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.
 

Cheers,
Adam

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