Think Again by Adam Grant: Summary, and What the Research Says About Rethinking at Work

What the book argues

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know is by Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist who teaches at the Wharton School. Viking published it on February 2, 2021 (Kirkus Reviews, 2021; Open Library, n.d.).

The publisher's description sets out the claim. Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a fast-changing world the ability to rethink and unlearn may matter more. Too often we prefer feeling certain to the discomfort of doubt. We act like preachers defending beliefs, prosecutors attacking the other side or politicians seeking approval, instead of scientists looking for the truth (Penguin Random House, n.d.). One of Grant's guiding principles, the publisher says, is to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong. Kirkus describes the book as working at three levels: the individual, changing other people's minds, and collective environments. It singles out the idea of confident humility, being confident about reaching a goal while questioning whether you have the right tools now (Kirkus Reviews, 2021).

In my words: hold your plan as a hypothesis, and make it easy for the people around you to tell you when the evidence has changed.

Who it is for

Leaders and managers who have to change course in public, and anyone who notices that they defend positions longer than the evidence supports. The publisher says the book covers schools, workplaces and communities (Penguin Random House, n.d.). Kirkus's verdict was measured: little new ground, but valuable advice on testing your beliefs from time to time (Kirkus Reviews, 2021).

What the research says

The book draws on research from many fields, but it is an argument, not a study, and I found no test of its approach as a whole in the evidence I use. Three findings bear on rethinking at work.

Looking back on purpose. Tannenbaum and Cerasoli (2013) pooled 46 samples of debriefs, structured looks back at what happened and why. Teams and individuals who debriefed performed about 25% better than comparison groups, or about d = .54 with three outliers removed; many of the pooled studies were quasi-experimental. A debrief is rethinking built into a routine, which is close to the book's call to treat beliefs as hypotheses.

Safety and team learning. Sanner and Bunderson (2015) pooled studies of psychological safety in teams. According to their abstract, safety was more strongly associated with team learning and performance in knowledge-intensive work that involves complexity, creativity and sensemaking, and may not be enough where the task does not require learning. That fits the book's focus on cultures of rethinking, as association: safety matters most where the work needs people to change their minds.

Humble leaders. Silard and colleagues (2025) pooled correlational studies and found that leader humility went with better follower job performance (ρ = .29, from 11 studies), more organizational citizenship behavior and creativity, and lower turnover. The studies measure leader humility, not Grant's confident humility, so the fit is loose.

Where the evidence is thin

The book's preacher, prosecutor and politician modes are a useful frame, not a tested model, and I found no study of the book's specific techniques for opening other people's minds in the evidence I use. The safety and humility research is correlational. And rethinking has costs worth weighing: a team that revisits every decision can lose the stability a change needs to settle.

How it maps to the Unfrozen Loop

This mapping is my judgment. Rethinking on a schedule is Review on a rhythm, then hold the pace, the part of the Unfrozen Loop that pairs short, regular reviews with a deliberate pause. The pause is the answer to the cost of rethinking everything all the time. Helping others rethink is Make sense together, top included, because the people at the top have to be willing to change their own minds too. And a culture where people can say a plan is not working is the culture ring: safe to speak, and speaking changes something.

What I take from it

The book is a good prompt to build rethinking into the calendar rather than leaving it to courage. Before a change launches, write down two signs that would tell you the plan is wrong, and put a review date on them. For the self-knowledge side of the same idea, see Leadership and Self-Deception, and for the research on safe teams, The Fearless Organization.