The TED talk chosen for this analysis is by Adam Grant, an Organizational Psychologist who provides insight on a whole different idea on how to be creative. The speaker recorded speech on February 2016 on TED2016 and released in the company’s website. He talks on the numerous habits that individuals considered as innovative or “original” thinkers. In this case, he gives a personal experience where he passed up the opportunity to invest in a startup by one of his students. He identified them as unorganized and procrastinators who were less than dedicated to the business as they all had back up jobs. However, it was not until 2015 that the company Warby Parker, which was the startup that he passed up, would be valued at $1.2 billion. As a result, it sparked his interest on “originals” and how their thinking made them successful.
Summary
Originals are Slow to Start
One of the key factors that made the speaker to pass up an opportunity to invest in one of the most innovative company was that they were “really slow to get off the ground” (Grant, 2016). Grant is the complete opposite, a precrastinator, so much so that he finished his thesis 4 months earlier than was necessary. A study would show that precrastinators are too eager to the point of panic and lack original ideas (Grant, 2016). The same is evident for the procrastinators who wait until it is too late and do not come up with anything constructive. However, the originals are in the middle ground.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Originals are improvers not the movers
The popular belief is that the people who bring new products to the market are the most likely to succeed is just but a myth. According to research that evaluated over 50 different classifications of product identifies that the first people to the market also known as the movers were 47% likely to fail as opposed to the improvers who only face 8% risk of failure (Grant, 2016). In this regard, one does not have to be the first to enter a market. The most important thing is being different and better according to Mr. Grant.
Originals have a lot of Doubts and Fear
Another reason why Grant passed up on the “Warby Parker” investment is because the founders themselves had doubts. In this case, they had all lined up back-up jobs just in case their idea did not work out. The speaker gives the examples of Martin Luther King and Leonard da Vinci as individuals who had doubt. The former was up at 3am rewriting a speech that he would give the following day and halfway through it he uttered four words that would forever change the entire speech “I have a dream” (Grant, 2016). For the latter, it was the fact that he worked on the Mona Lisa for 16 years before releasing it as a masterpiece. These individuals have fear like the rest of the population but the greatest is failing to start at all.
Conclusion
Throughout the talk it is evident that there are three distinct stages of creativity that illuminate how moderate procrastinators may portray creativity. It is the fact that they have already started off an idea that during the time of procrastination, different ideas develop each time they think about it. In this case, the topic shows that the ability to push on and avoiding the negative thought of doubt not to prevent them from getting off the ground. The idea does not have to be the first it just has to be the best. It is evident that I have had personal doubts that have prevented me from making a step towards a developed idea. However, it is through failure that creativity is born, similar to the student of Mr. Grant, they attempted 2,000 different names for the company before settling for Warby Parker (Grant, 2016).
References
Grant, A. (2016, Feb.) The surprising habits of original thinkers . TED Talk, Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grant_the_surprising_habits_of_original_thinkers
