Think Again summary

For most of us, our biggest blind spots are the things we’re not good at. This might seem counter-intuitive, but numerous studies have shown that the people who score the lowest on tests of logical reasoning and sense of humor, for example, also have the most overinflated view of their abilities in these areas.

The key message here is: You might not know what you don’t know.

How do you persuade someone that you’re right? Grant used to believe that the art of persuasion consisted of reeling off evidence that the other person was wrong. But he’s come to realize that there’s a lot more to negotiations and debate than beating someone over the head with logic.

The key message here is: The best negotiators do three key things to change people’s minds.

In 1983, Black musician Daryl Davis began talking to members of the Ku Klux Klan. His mission? To convince the most racist people in America to change their minds. Since that day, Davis has persuaded many Klan members to rethink their racism and leave the KKK; one former klansman even asked Davis to be his daughter’s godfather. His success tells us a lot about one method to stamp out bigotry.

The key message here is: Even the most ignorant beliefs can be changed.

As strange as it may sound, sometimes the best way to get people to rethink is to interview them. In 2018, in a hospital in Quebec, Canada, a young mother named Marie-Hélène was refusing to change her mind. Marie-Hélène was an anti-vaxxer, and she didn’t want her premature baby, Tobie, to be vaccinated against measles.

The staff on the maternity ward knew there was only one person who might be able to help. Enter Dr. Arnaud Gagneur, the vaccine whisperer, whose work holds powerful insights into rethinking.

In 2006 Al Gore released his award-winning documentary on climate change: An Inconvenient Truth. It had a seismic effect; persuading governments, businesses, and ordinary people to start protecting the planet. But 15 years on, how successful has the environmental movement been in changing America’s mind on climate change? Perhaps not as successful as it could have been.

By 2018, only 59 percent of Americans viewed climate change as a severe problem, and 16 percent said they didn’t think it was a problem at all. So what can the mixed success of climate activists teach us about getting people to think again?

Rethinking isn’t just about individuals changing their minds, it’s also a collective necessity for organizations. In 2003, NASA’s Columbia Space Shuttle took off. As it did, some foam broke off the shuttle. The NASA ground team’s reaction? They quickly decided it wasn’t a big issue. Foam had broken off spaceships before and nothing bad had happened.

If the ground team had thought again about the importance of the foam though, they would have realized that it was a big issue; the foam loss ultimately caused the ship to break up when it reentered the earth’s atmosphere. And all seven astronauts died.