Adam Grant

We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent and intelligence. But the true measure of potential isn’t where you start—it’s how far you can travel. Building on his #1 New York Times bestseller, Hidden Potential, Adam Grant examines how to build the character skills, structures, and systems that accelerate learning and elevate excellence. We all have hidden potential, and this talk highlights how we can unleash it—in ourselves, in our teams, and in our organizations.

Many visions, strategies, and best practices were created in a world that no longer exists. The faster our environment changes, the more critical it becomes to rethink our assumptions. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant finds that the very skills that make us good at thinking and learning can make us worse at rethinking and unlearning. Building on his #1 New York Times bestselling book, Think Again—called “brilliant” by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman—Adam examines how we can update our own opinions, open other people’s minds, and build a learning organization in which people know what they don’t know and are eager to improve on the status quo. His eye-opening evidence and entertaining delivery will leave you determined to never again say “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

When Adam Grant wrote his viral piece about languishing, it was the most-read New York Times article of the year—and the most-saved across all platforms. During this session, he fields questions about how the “blah” of languishing is different from burnout, what causes these two sets of emotional challenges, and how individuals, teams, and workplaces can move toward flourishing and build resilience. “Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity,” says Grant. “It’s a skill set that we work on throughout our lives.”

To survive and thrive, organizations need original thinking. Yet many people stay silent instead of voicing their best ideas—and many leaders stifle dissent rather than encouraging it. In his #1 New York Times bestselling book Originals, Grant set out to explore how to unleash original thinking. “Originals are nonconformists—people who not only have new ideas, but take action to champion them,” says Grant. “They’re people who stand out and speak up. Originals drive creativity and change in the world.” In this talk, Grant reveals how to get better at recognizing and championing new ideas, and how to build cultures that welcome diverse perspectives and honest feedback.

Culture is a key component of success, but many leaders struggle in managing the cultures of their teams and organizations. Based on decades of evidence, Adam Grant argues that the highest-performing organizations are the ones that embrace an ethos of knowledge sharing, helping, and mentoring. In his New York Times bestselling book, Give and Take, Grant examines how interpersonal interactions can fuel success, depending on whether you’re a “giver” (generous), a “taker” (me-first), or a “matcher” (trades favors evenly, quid pro quo). “Givers succeed in a way that creates a ripple effect, enhancing the success of people around them,” he writes. “Giver success creates value, instead of just claiming it.” In this presentation, Grant outlines the key strategies for building a culture of productive generosity. He highlights the importance of screening out takers, rewarding givers, and creating norms of help-seeking as well as help-giving.