GRANTED: Making long-term decisions and long-term friendships

September 2018

Good teachers introduce new thoughts. Great teachers introduce new ways of thinking.
Good teachers care about their subjects. Great teachers care about their students.
Good teachers teach us what they know. Great teachers teach us how to learn.
 
Here are three articles that opened up new ways of thinking for me this month:

1. How to Make a Big Decision
The hallmark of a bad decision is only considering two options. Adding a third alternative to the table increases the odds of success. Instead of asking "whether or not," expand your pool of options by asking "which one?"
 
2. How to Make Friends, According to Science
On average, it takes 50 hours of interaction to go from acquaintance to friend and 200 hours to get to close friend. Real friendships rarely happen overnight. They build over time through sharing moments of joy and moments of heartache.
 
3. Problem-Solving Techniques Take on New Twist
Solving a problem in a group leads you to more good ideas but fewer great ideas. The opposite is true if you solve it alone. The best of both worlds is intermittent collaboration: alternating between independent and group work.

From My Desk:

4. Those Who Can Do, Can’t Teach
In my latest New York Times piece, I explore why the best doers sometimes make the worst teachers and how to choose a teacher, mentor, or coach. Hint: instead of seeking out prodigies who were naturals in their fields, learn from overachievers who overcame a lack of talent or opportunity.
 
5. The Dozen New Idea Books to Read This Fall
I spent part of my summer vacation reading a slew of autumn nonfiction releases, and these are my top recommendations. They cover finding joy and gaining wisdom, making long-term decisions and driving change, overcoming bias and making sense of cultures, scaling startups and predicting the future of work and technology.
 
Finally, a huge thanks to Lindsay Miller for four exceptional years of collaboration. She dreamed up this newsletter with me, and if there’s such a thing as mental ambidexterity, she defines it.  GRANTED would not exist without her left-brained logic and right-brained creativity—it’s been a joy to build this together.
 
See you at the end of the month with some thoughts on your latest questions in Wondering.

Cheers,
Adam

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