by Adam Grant
foundation of a learning culture: Amy Edmondson, “Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams,” Administrative Science Quarterly 44 (1999): 350–83.
engage in self-limiting behavior: Paul W. Mulvey, John F. Veiga, and Priscilla M. Elsass, “When Teammates Raise a White Flag,” Academy of Management Perspectives 10 (1996): 40–49.
some engineers did raise red flags: Howard Berkes, “30 Years after Explosion, Challenger Engineer Still Blames Himself,” NPR, January 28, 2016, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/28/464744781/30-years-after-disaster-challenger-engineer-still-blames-himself.
an engineer asked for clearer photographs: Joel Bach, “Engineer Sounded Warnings for Columbia,” ABC News, January 7, 2006, abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97600&page=1.
prevent this kind of disaster from ever happening again: Personal interview with Ellen Ochoa, December 12, 2019.
How do you know?: Personal interview with Chris Hansen, November 12, 2019.
gains in psychological safety a full year later: Constantinos G. V. Coutifaris and Adam M. Grant, “Taking Your Team Behind the Curtain: The Effects of Leader Feedback-Sharing, Feedback-Seeking, and Humility on Team Psychological Safety Over Time” (working paper, 2020).
harsh comments from student course evaluations: Wharton Follies, “Mean Reviews: Professor Edition,” March 22, 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOaEVSu6ms&t=3s.
Sharing our imperfections: Celia Moore et al., “The Advantage of Being Oneself: The Role of Applicant Self-Verification in Organizational Hiring Decisions,” Journal of Applied Psychology 102 (2017): 1493–513.
people who haven’t yet proven their competence: Kerry Roberts Gibson, Dana Harari, and Jennifer Carson Marr, “When Sharing Hurts: How and Why Self-Disclosing Weakness Undermines the Task-Oriented Relationships of Higher-Status Disclosers,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 144 (2018): 25–43.
Focusing on results: Itamar Simonson and Barry M. Staw, “Deescalation Strategies: A Comparison of Techniques for Reducing Commitment to Losing Courses of Action,” Journal of Applied Psychology 77 (1992): 419–26; Jennifer S. Lerner and Philip E. Tetlock, “Accounting for the Effects of Accountability,” Psychological Bulletin 125 (1999): 255–75.
we create a learning zone: Amy C. Edmondson, “The Competitive Imperative of Learning,” Harvard Business Review, July-August 2008, hbr.org/2008/07/the-competitive-imperative-of-learning.
“will you gamble with me on it?”: Jeff Bezos, “2016 Letter to Shareholders,” www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312517120198/d373368dex991.htm.
a study of California banks: Barry M. Staw, Sigal G. Barsade, and Kenneth W. Koput, “Escalation at the Credit Window: A Longitudinal Study of Bank Executives’ Recognition and Write-Off of Problem Loans,” Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1997): 130–42.
Chapter 11. Escaping Tunnel Vision
“A malaise set in”: Jack Handey, “My First Day in Hell,” New Yorker, October 23, 2006, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/30/my-first-day-in-hell.
the combination of blurting and flirting: William B. Swann Jr. and Peter J. Rentfrow, “Blirtatiousness: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Physiological Consequences of Rapid Responding,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81 (2001): 1160–75.
inspire us to set bolder goals: Locke and Latham, “Building a Practically Useful Theory.”
guide us toward a path: Peter M. Gollwitzer, “Implementation Intentions: Strong Effects of Simple Plans,” American Psychologist 54 (1999): 493–503.
they can give us tunnel vision: James Y. Shah and Arie W. Kruglanski, “Forgetting All Else: On the Antecedents and Consequences of Goal Shielding,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83 (2002): 1261–80.
escalation of commitment: Barry M. Staw and Jerry Ross, “Understanding Behavior in Escalation Situations,” Science 246 (1989): 216–20.
entrepreneurs persist with failing strategies: Dustin J. Sleesman et al., “Putting Escalation of Commitment in Context: A Multilevel Review and Analysis,” Academy of Management Annals 12 (2018): 178–207.
NBA general managers: Colin F. Camerer and Roberto A. Weber, “The Econometrics and Behavioral Economics of Escalation of Commitment: A Re-examination of Staw and Hoang’s NBA Data,” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 39 (1999): 59–82.
politicians continue sending soldiers to wars: Glen Whyte, “Escalating Commitment in Individual and Group Decision Making: A Prospect Theory Approach,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 54 (1993): 430–55.
searching for self-justifications for our prior beliefs: Joel Brockner, “The Escalation of Commitment to a Failing Course of Action: Toward Theoretical Progress,” Academy of Management Review 17 (1992): 39–61.
soothe our egos: Dustin J. Sleesman et al., “Cleaning Up the Big Muddy: A Meta-analytic Review of the Determinants of Escalation of Commitment,” Academy of Management Journal 55 (2012): 541–62.
Grit is the combination: Jon M. Jachimowicz et al., “Why Grit Requires Perseverance and Passion to Positively Predict Performance,” PNAS 115 (2018): 9980–85; Angela Duckworth and James J. Gross, “Self-Control and Grit: Related but Separable Determinants of Success,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 23 (2014): 319–25.
more likely to overplay their hands in roulette: Larbi Alaoui and Christian Fons-Rosen, “Know When to Fold ’Em: The Grit Factor,” Universitat Pompeu Fabra: Barcela GSE Working Paper Series (2018).
more willing to stay the course: Gale M. Lucas et al., “When the Going Gets Tough: Grit Predicts Costly Perseverance,” Journal of Research in Personality 59 (2015): 15–22; see also Henry Moon, “The Two Faces of Conscientiousness: Duty and Achievement Striving in Escalation of Commitment Dilemmas,” Journal of Applied Psychology 86 (2001): 533–40.
gritty mountaineers are more likely to die: Lee Crust, Christian Swann, and Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson, “The Thin Line: A Phenomenological Study of Mental Toughness and Decision Making in Elite High-Altitude Mountaineers,” Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 38 (2016): 598–611.
what psychologists call identity foreclosure: Wim Meeus et al., “Patterns of Adolescent Identity Development: Review of Literature and Longitudinal Analysis,” Developmental Review 19 (1999): 419–61.
settle prematurely on a sense of self: Otilia Obodaru, “The Self Not Taken: How Alternative Selves Develop and How They Influence Our Professional Lives,” Academy of Management Review 37 (2017): 523–53.
“one of the most useless questions”: Michelle Obama, Becoming (New York: Crown, 2018).
lack the talent to pursue our callings: Shoshana R. Dobrow, “Dynamics of Callings: A Longitudinal Study of Musicians,” Journal of Organizational Behavior 34 (2013): 431–52.
leaving them unanswered: Justin M. Berg, Adam M. Grant, and Victoria Johnson, “When Callings Are Calling: Crafting Work and Leisure in Pursuit of Unanswered Occupational Callings,” Organization Science 21 (2010): 973–94.
“Tell the kids”: Chris Rock, Tamborine, directed by Bo Burnham, Netflix, 2018.
introducing them to science differently: Ryan F. Lei et al., “Children Lose Confidence in Their Potential to ‘Be Scientists,’ but Not in Their Capacity to ‘Do Science,’” Developmental Science 22 (2019): e12837.
prekindergarten students express more interest: Marjorie Rhodes, Amanda Cardarelli, and Sarah-Jane Leslie, “Asking Young Children to ‘Do Science’ Instead of ‘Be Scientists’ Increases Science Engagement in a Randomized Field Experiment,” PNAS 117 (2020): 9808–14.
holding a dozen different jobs: Alison Doyle, “How Often Do People Change Jobs during a Lifetime?,” The Balance Careers, June 15, 2020, www.thebalancecareers.com/how-often-do-people-change-jobs-2060467.
tuned out their mentors: Shoshana R. Dobrow and Jennifer Tosti-Kharas, “Listen to Your Heart? Calling and Receptivity to Career Advice,” J
ournal of Career Assessment 20 (2012): 264–80.
we develop compensatory conviction: Ian McGregor et al., “Compensatory Conviction in the Face of Personal Uncertainty: Going to Extremes and Being Oneself,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80 (2001): 472–88.
graduates of universities in England and Wales: Ofer Malamud, “Breadth Versus Depth: The Timing of Specialization in Higher Education,” Labour 24 (2010): 359–90.
as people consider career choices and transitions: Herminia Ibarra, Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2003).
entertain possible selves: Herminia Ibarra, “Provisional Selves: Experimenting with Image and Identity in Professional Adaptation,” Administrative Science Quarterly 44 (1999): 764–91.
the more people value happiness: Iris B. Mauss et al., “Can Seeking Happiness Make People Unhappy? Paradoxical Effects of Valuing Happiness,” Emotion 11 (2011): 807–15.
a risk factor for depression: Brett Q. Ford et al., “Desperately Seeking Happiness: Valuing Happiness Is Associated with Symptoms and Diagnosis of Depression,” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 33 (2014): 890–905.
ruminate about why our lives aren’t more joyful: Lucy McGuirk et al., “Does a Culture of Happiness Increase Rumination Over Failure?,” Emotion 18 (2018): 755–64.
happiness depends more on the frequency: Ed Diener, Ed Sandvik, and William Pavot, “Happiness Is the Frequency, Not the Intensity, of Positive versus Negative Affect,” in Subjective Well-Being: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, ed. Fritz Strack, Michael Argyle, and Norbert Schwartz (New York: Pergamon, 1991).
meaning is healthier than happiness: Barbara L. Fredrickson et al., “A Functional Genomic Perspective on Human Well-Being,” PNAS 110 (2013): 13684–89; Emily Esfahani Smith, “Meaning Is Healthier Than Happiness,” The Atlantic, August 1, 2013, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/meaning-is-healthier-than-happiness/278250.
meaning tends to last: Jon M. Jachimowicz et al., “Igniting Passion from Within: How Lay Beliefs Guide the Pursuit of Work Passion and Influence Turnover,” PsyArXiv 10.31234/osf.io/qj6y9, last revised July 2, 2018, https://psyarxiv.com/qj6y9/.
people prioritize social engagement: Brett Q. Ford et al., “Culture Shapes Whether the Pursuit of Happiness Predicts Higher or Lower Well-Being,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 144 (2015): 1053–62.
“you’re still gonna be you on vacation”: Saturday Night Live, season 44, episode 19, “Adam Sandler,” May 4, 2019, NBC.
joy that those choices bring about is typically temporary: Elizabeth W. Dunn, Timothy D. Wilson, and Daniel T. Gilbert, “Location, Location, Location: The Misprediction of Satisfaction in Housing Lotteries,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 29 (2003): 1421–32; Kent C. H. Lam et al., “Cultural Differences in Affective Forecasting: The Role of Focalism,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 31 (2005): 1296–309.
“You can’t get away from yourself”: Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (New York: Scribner, 1926/2014).
students who changed their actions: Kennon M. Sheldon and Sonja Lyubomirsky, “Achieving Sustainable Gains in Happiness: Change Your Actions, Not Your Circumstances,” Journal of Happiness Studies 7 (2006): 55–86; Kennon M. Sheldon and Sonja Lyubomirsky, “Change Your Actions, Not Your Circumstances: An Experimental Test of the Sustainable Happiness Model,” in Happiness, Economics, and Politics: Towards a Multi-disciplinary Approach, ed. Amitava Krishna Dutt and Benjamin Radcliff (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2009).
built their own microcommunity: Jane E. Dutton and Belle Rose Ragins, Exploring Positive Relationships at Work: Building a Theoretical and Research Foundation (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2007).
passions are often developed, not discovered: Paul A. O’Keefe, Carol S. Dweck, and Gregory M. Walton, “Implicit Theories of Interest: Finding Your Passion or Developing It?,” Psychological Science 29 (2018): 1653–64.
Their passion grew as they gained momentum: Michael M. Gielnik et al., “‘I Put in Effort, Therefore I Am Passionate’: Investigating the Path from Effort to Passion in Entrepreneurship,” Academy of Management Journal 58 (2015): 1012–31.
actions that benefit others: Adam M. Grant, “The Significance of Task Significance: Job Performance Effects, Relational Mechanisms, and Boundary Conditions,” Journal of Applied Psychology 93 (2008): 108–24; Stephen E. Humphrey, Jennifer D. Nahrgang, and Frederick P. Morgeson, “Integrating Motivational, Social, and Contextual Work Design Features: A Meta-analytic Summary and Theoretical Extension of the Work Design Literature,” Journal of Applied Psychology 92 (2007): 1332–56; Brent D. Rosso, Kathryn H. Dekas, and Amy Wrzesniewski, “On the Meaning of Work: A Theoretical Integration and Review,” Research in Organizational Behavior 30 (2010): 91–127.
we feel we have more to give: Dan P. McAdams, “Generativity in Midlife,” Handbook of Midlife Development, ed. Margie E. Lachman (New York: Wiley, 2001).
“they find happiness by the way”: John Stuart Mill, Autobiography (New York: Penguin Classics, 1883/1990).
what scientists call open systems: Ludwig von Bertalanffy, General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications (New York: Braziller, 1969).
open systems are governed: Arie W. Kruglanski et al., “The Architecture of Goal Systems: Multifinality, Equifinality, and Counterfinality in Means-Ends Relations,” Advances in Motivation Science 2 (2015): 69–98; Dante Cicchetti and Fred A. Rogosch, “Equifinality and Multifinality in Developmental Psychopathology,” Development and Psychopathology 8 (1996): 597–600.
“you can make the whole trip that way”: Nancy Groves, “EL Doctorow in Quotes: 15 of His Best,” Guardian, July 21, 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/22/el-doctorow-in-quotes-15-of-his-best.
rethink their roles through job crafting: Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane E. Dutton, “Crafting a Job: Revisioning Employees as Active Crafters of Their Work,” Academy of Management Review 26 (2001): 179–201.
how grateful they were for Candice Walker: Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane Dutton, “Having a Calling and Crafting a Job: The Case of Candice Billups,” William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan, November 12, 2009.
ended up rethinking their roles: Amy Wrzesniewski, Jane E. Dutton, and Gelaye Debebe, “Interpersonal Sensemaking and the Meaning of Work,” Research in Organizational Behavior 25 (2003): 93–135.
“No, it’s not part of my job”: “A World without Bosses,” WorkLife with Adam Grant, April 11, 2018.
Epilogue
“‘What I believe’”: Candace Falk, Barry Pateman, and Jessica Moran, eds., Emma Goldman, vol. 2, A Documentary History of the American Years (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2008).
“write a book that ended with the word Mayonnaise”: Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America (New York: Delta, 1967).
“A new scientific truth”: Max K. Planck, Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers (New York: Greenwood, 1950/1968).
generations are replaced: “Societies Change Their Minds Faster Than People Do,” Economist, October 31, 2019, www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/10/31/societies-change-their-minds-faster-than-people-do.
the word scientist is relatively new: William Whewell, The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (New York: Johnson, 1840/1967); “William Whewell,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, December 23, 2000, last revised September 22, 2017, plato.stanford.edu/entries/whewell.
“above all, try something”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Address at Oglethorpe University,” May 22, 1932, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-oglethorpe-university-atlanta-georgia.
“something unspecified is no better than nothing”: “Hoover and Roosevelt,” New York Times, May 24, 1932, www.nytimes.com/1932/05/24/archives/hoover-and-roosevelt.html.
act of political stupidity: Paul Stephen Hudson, “A Call for ‘Bold Persistent Exper
imentation’: FDR’s Oglethorpe University Commencement Address, 1932,” Georgia Historical Quarterly (Summer 1994), https://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/history/related_article/progressive-era-world-war-ii-1901-1945/background-to-fdrs-ties-to-georgia/a-call-for-bold-persistent-experimentation-fdrs-oglethorpe-university-comme.
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Charts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34 by Matt Shirley.
35: Jason Adam Katzenstein/The New Yorker Collection/The Cartoon Bank; © Condé Nast.
36: Nicholas Bloom, Renata Lemos, Raffaella Sadun, Daniela Scur, and John Van Reenen. “JEEA-FBBVA Lecture 2013: The New Empirical Economics of Management,” Journal of the European Economic Association 12, no. 4 (August 1, 2014): 835–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeea.12094.
37: Zach Weinersmith/www.smbc-comics.com.
38: C. Sanchez and D. Dunning. “Overconfidence Among Beginners: Is a Little Learning a Dangerous Thing?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 114, no. 1 (2018), 10–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000102.
39, 40, 41: © Doug Savage, www.savagechickens.com.
42: Ellis Rosen/The New Yorker Collection/The Cartoon Bank; © Condé Nast.
43: David Sipress/The New Yorker Collection/The Cartoon Bank; © Condé Nast.
44: CreateDebate user Loudacris/CC BY 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0.
45: Map by casinoinsider.com.
46 and 47: wordle.net.
48: Calvin & Hobbes © 1993 Watterson. Reprinted with permission of ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION. All rights reserved.
49: Non Sequitur © 2016 Wiley Ink, Inc. Dist. by ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
50: A. Leiserowitz, E. Maibach, S. Rosenthal, J. Kotcher, P. Bergquist, M. Ballew, M. Goldberg, and A. Gustafson. “Climate Change in the American Mind: November 2019.” Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 2019.