Editors Reads Verdict
Grant's investigation of originality and creative courage is full of counterintuitive research findings — most memorably, that successful originals are not fearless but deeply doubtful, and that procrastination can be a tool of creative incubation.
What We Loved
- The procrastination-as-creative-incubation finding is genuinely surprising and well-supported
- The research on birth order, quantity-quality trade-offs, and timing is fascinating
- Grant challenges the romanticized version of originality with precision
- The chapters on coalition building and timing are practically valuable
Minor Drawbacks
- Some case studies feel cherry-picked for narrative fit
- The self-help framing occasionally competes with the analytical one
- The chapter on parenting and originality is less integrated than the rest
Key Takeaways
- → Successful originals generate large quantities of ideas because most ideas are mediocre
- → Strategic procrastination can enhance creative divergence
- → Originals are not fearless — they feel the same fear but act despite it
- → The best time to advocate for an idea is rarely the most obvious time
- → Coalition building is more effective than frontal challenge for changing institutions
| Author | Adam Grant |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Viking |
| Pages | 322 |
| Published | February 2, 2016 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Business, Psychology |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Best For | Entrepreneurs, creative professionals, organizational leaders, and anyone interested in how new ideas move from individual insight to collective adoption. |
The Reality of Creative Risk
We tell a particular story about original thinkers: they see what others miss, they’re fearless in the face of skepticism, they act decisively on their convictions. Adam Grant’s Originals challenges every part of that mythology with considerable research behind him.
Successful originals, Grant demonstrates, are not fearless. They feel the same doubt, anxiety, and imposter syndrome that stops most people from acting. What they do differently is find strategies for acting despite those feelings — strategies that Grant catalogs across psychology, history, and organizational science.
The Quantity Insight
The book’s most counterintuitive finding is about creative productivity. Grant examines the careers of creative geniuses across multiple fields and finds a consistent pattern: they didn’t just produce more masterpieces than their peers. They produced more of everything, including their most embarrassing failures. Einstein published poor papers. Shakespeare wrote bad plays. The rate of production drives the hit rate because creative quality is genuinely difficult to predict in advance — even by the creator.
The practical implication: if you want to produce original work, your first priority is volume. Curating in advance is a reliable recipe for stagnation.
Procrastination Reconsidered
Grant’s chapter on procrastination and creativity is among the book’s most surprising. The research suggests that moderate procrastination — beginning a project, then setting it aside before completing it — can actually enhance creative output by allowing divergent thinking to continue in the background. The completely done-in-advance and the completely last-minute show worse creative outcomes than the strategic in-between.
This is counterintuitive enough that Grant makes sure to distinguish strategic incubation from simple avoidance, and the distinction matters.
Coalition Building
The second half of Originals addresses how new ideas move through organizations and societies, and here Grant’s organizational psychology training is most evident. The most effective advocates for change, research suggests, are not the loudest voices but the ones who build coalitions through unexpected alliances, frame challenges as opportunities, and time their advocacy to match institutional receptivity.
Our rating: 4.2/5 — A research-rich examination of how originals actually think and act, full of counterintuitive findings that challenge the romanticized version of creative courage.
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