Adam Grant — Organizational psychologist and professor at the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania). Bestselling author of five books, most recently Hidden Potential, and a popular science communicator.
The gist
Andrew Huberman interviews organizational psychologist Adam Grant about the psychology of performance and growth. They explore why people procrastinate (avoiding negative emotions, not laziness) and how moderate procrastination can boost creativity. The conversation covers intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, how to design feedback so it helps rather than stings, growth mindset, blind spots, authenticity, and chronotype-based work scheduling. Grant ties his ideas to his books and personal stories from competitive diving, magic, and parenting, ending on how to recognize and unlock hidden potential.
Big reveals
- Grant's research with G Shin found people who procrastinate moderately are rated as more creative, in an inverted-U relationship.
- Cites Elliot Aronson's cognitive dissonance work: paying someone just $1 to praise a boring task shifts their true feelings more than paying $20.
- Introduces Sheila Heen's 'second score' technique: grade yourself on how well you receive criticism, not just the criticism itself.
- Recalls brutal feedback teaching Air Force generals at 25 ('more knowledge in the audience than on the podium') and how he turned it around.
- Names the 'I'm not biased' bias the 'mother of all biases' — and high-IQ people fall for it more.
- Floats a 'tag-team' debate podcast idea inspired by professional wrestling, with guests tagging in to challenge arguments.
- Shares research that Nobel laureates are 22x more likely than peers to dance, act, or perform as magicians.
- Describes the 'coach effect' — giving advice (e.g., his daughter telling him to find a smiling face) builds more confidence than receiving it.
Things worth remembering
- Grant calls himself a 'precrastinator' who finished his college thesis months early; he procrastinates mainly on boring or administrative tasks.
- Before COVID, Gloria Mark's research found the average person checked email 72 times a day.
- A Leslie Perlow experiment gave engineers uninterrupted 'quiet time' (no meetings before noon) and saw 65% above-average productivity.
- A Kluger and DeNisi meta-analysis of 100 years of feedback found utility depends on whether feedback targets the task or the self, not whether it's positive or negative.
- Extreme intrinsic motivation on one task can hurt your performance on a following boring task, via contrast effects.
- The 'reflected best self' exercise: ask 10-20 people to share a story of when you were at your best to reveal invisible strengths.
- Phil Tetlock's framework: people think like preachers, prosecutors, or politicians — all of which block questioning your own assumptions.
- Grant's 2021 NYT article named the pandemic feeling 'languishing' (from Corey Keyes's research) and resonated massively.
- Grant warns against 'play to your strengths' — skills hard to learn often yield greater mastery and satisfaction.
- Meta-analyses show financial incentives boost quantity of output more than quality.
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Hidden Potential
Adam Grant
“he has authored five bestselling books and most recently has authored a new book entitled hidden potential” — Andrew Huberman 00:00:00Find it on Amazon