GRANTED: When to trust your gut and how to get people to embrace change

November 2018

Don’t hire for talent or credentials. Hire for the motivation and ability to learn.

As the world changes, betting on experience can leave you stuck in the past. Investing in learning sets you up to shape the future.

Here are some of my favorite sources of learning this month:

1. Getting People to Embrace Change
To overcome resistance to change, highlight what will stay the same. Visions for change are more appealing when they're coupled with visions of continuity: our culture or strategy might evolve, but our identity will endure.
 
2. Your Intuition is Wrong, Unless These 3 Conditions Are Met
You can trust your gut when (1) you're in a predictable environment, with (2) regular practice and (3) immediate feedback on your judgment. If you can't check those boxes, don't have blind faith in your intuition. Gather evidence to test your intuition.
 
3. If Your Employees Aren't Speaking Up, Blame Company Culture
Leaders need to stop punishing voice and start rewarding people for raising problems, concerns, suggestions, and solutions.
 
4. Everything Is for Sale Now. Even Us.
“Share my blog post, buy my book, click on my link, follow me on Instagram, visit my Etsy shop, donate to my Kickstarter.... It’s as though we are all working in Walmart on an endless Black Friday of the soul... buying, promoting or sharing your friend’s 'thing' is is now a tax payable for modern friendship.”

This article was on my list to feature even before the author asked if I might share it (irony gracefully acknowledged). In grappling with this dilemma myself, I've noticed that when I'm on the receiving end, what I dislike most is an individual email asking me to share something. My advice: remove the awkward sense of obligation by making the request in a mass email (no need to reply) or including the link in a personal email without an ask ("thought you might enjoy this").

From My Desk:

5. Designing for Empathy
If necessity is the mother of invention, the necessity of others is the mother of innovation. Erin Henkel at IDEO and I explore how to create experiences where people don't just get to know the customer; they actually become the customer. Cue the old Hair Club for Men ad: "I'm not only the president, I'm also a client."

6. Adam Grant is (Not) Superman
I've come to believe that we stagnate by avoiding contradictions and grow by embracing them. Adaptability comes from holding seemingly conflicting identities: outgoing introvert, disagreeable giver, tempered radical, skeptical optimist.

And in the spirit of Thanksgiving: we shouldn't be grateful for the difference we've made or the things we've accomplished. We should be grateful for the privileges we’ve been given and the opportunities we’ve been granted.

Cheers,
Adam

Adam Grant, Ph.D.
Organizational psychologist at Wharton, author of ORIGINALS, GIVE AND TAKE, and OPTION B, and host of WorkLife, a TED original podcast