Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Justin Berg is a professor and researcher at Stanford University. His research focuses on the relationships between creativity, business, and success, and how original ideas can be implemented. Berg, a former student of Grant’s, and Grant himself regularly collaborate on research. Grant describes Berg as a “wunderkind professor” who “specializes in creative forecasting, the art of predicting the success of novel ideas” (44). Two of Berg’s major findings are people’s inability to judge their own ideas accurately (Chapter 2) and the benefits of tempering ideas to be more palatable (Chapter 5). Berg performed experiments such as having people rate their own performances in advance and amalgamated data from countless companies, sports teams, and other domains.

Born in 1955, Steve Jobs was a leader in business and technology. He was a cofounder of Apple and the majority shareholder of Pixar. Throughout his career, Jobs made decisions that led to setbacks and success alike. Most of the time, his intuition about original ideas was correct; however, because of this track record, he was often overconfident and sometimes failed to see potential flaws. This overconfidence is what Grant calls a “false positive” (31), a misjudgment of a flawed idea as full of potential. Jobs invested in the Segway, believing it would revolutionize street transportation. Unfortunately, there were many unconsidered factors due to Jobs and inventor Dean Kamen’s radical passion: People did not feel the need to replace walking and the product’s cost was too high for mass consumption, among other issues. Grant deems Jobs an original for his unique ideas, willingness to take risks, and encouragement of others to take risks.

Born in 1951, Dean Kamen is best known for the iBOT and Segway, among other inventions. He designed the iBOT, a six-wheeled wheelchair that can climb stairs and raise the user to eye-level; the Segway is a two-wheeled transportation device intended to be a replacement for walking. Despite enthusiasm from investors such as Steve Jobs, it did not succeed. Grant uses Kamen’s story as an example of what can happen when an original’s idea misses the mark. Kamen fell victim to the “perils of passion” (60), which Grant describes as overconfidence and the failure to assess ideas for flaws.

Carmen Medina is a retired CIA intelligence analyst and strategist. She was instrumental to revolutionizing the collecting and sharing of data among American intelligence agencies in the 1990s. When she found her career stagnating, she took it upon herself to learn about “the future of intelligence” (69). With her newfound knowledge, she was able to develop original thinking and noticed a major flaw in the way agencies coordinated data. Everything was done via paper, an inefficient means that Medina believed cost lives. She relayed to senior colleagues that the CIA should use the internet because it was more efficient—but her idea was refused for years due to concerns over security breaches.

Grant believes there were other reasons for Medina being rejected—the first being that she is a Puerto Rican woman, a double minority. Secondly, Medina was not a high-level employee when she began voicing her dissent. Thirdly, Medina used an emotional approach, repeating herself and speaking in a harsh tone. It was not until she achieved a higher position and learned to carry herself with grace that she was taken seriously. To Grant, Medina is an original because she defied the status quo of a major organization—as a double minority no less.

Born in 1919, Jackie Robinson was the first Black Major League Baseball player and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He also stole more bases than any other player in history. Robinson is framed as an original because he challenged the status quo of the sports world. Grant admires Robinson for his courage and ability to take risks throughout his life. He also uses Robinson’s story to strengthen his argument about laterborn children being more likely to become original: Robinson was the youngest in a family of five children.

Srdja Popovic is a political activist and environmental advisor to the prime minister of Serbia. He led a student-run civil rights movement called Otpor! from 1998 to 2004 that proved instrumental to toppling the Milosevic regime. This nonviolent movement used protesting and campaigning to spread awareness and inspire action among the Serbian people. Grant uses Popovic’s story to showcase the latter’s humor and use of devil’s advocate to challenge people’s fear and apathy. He explains that Popovic and his colleagues were successful in their politics because of their willingness to confront not only their own fear and apathy, but those of others. Popovic is an example of how originality can be harnessed to affect change not just within business, but within one’s own country or the world.

Ray Dalio is the founder and CEO of Bridgewater Associates in Connecticut. Bridgewater “handles over $170 billion in investments for governments, pension funds, universities, and charities” (164), being an original company in many ways. It challenges corporate norms by encouraging employees to voice dissenting opinions, provide feedback on the workplace, and unearth devil’s advocates to call out problems as they arise. However, Dalio asserts that employees should think for themselves above all. Bridgewater also hires based on a commitment blueprint, evaluating a potential employee’s cultural fit within the company. Using these strategies, Bridgewater encourages originality by requiring employees to both accept and provide criticism.