Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Parents of highly creative children had an average of less than one rule and tended to “place emphasis on moral values, rather than on specific rules

Instead of aiming for unique accomplishments, the intense desire to succeed leads us to strive for guaranteed success

The lesson here is that voice isn’t inherently superior to exit. In some circumstances, leaving a stifling organization can be a better path to originality.

Research demonstrates that when we’re angry at others, we aim for retaliation or revenge. But when we’re angry forothers, we seek out justice and a better system. We don’t just want to punish; we want to help.

In the first case, the options are framed as gains. We prefer Plan A because we tend to be risk averse in the domain of benefits.

To drive people out of their comfort zones, you have to cultivate dissatisfaction, frustration, or anger at the current state of affairs, making it a guaranteed loss. “The greatest communicators of all time,” says communication expert Nancy Duarte—who has spent her career studying the shape of superb presentations—start by establishing “what is: here’s the status quo.” Then, they “compare that to what could be,” making “that gap as big as possible.”

It’s hard to change other people’s ideals. It’s much easier to link our agendas to familiar values that people already hold.

The most promising ideas begin from novelty and then add familiarity, which capitalizes on the mere exposure effect we covered earlier. On average, a novel starting point followed by a familiarity infusion led to ideas that were judged as 14 percent more practical, without sacrificing any originality.

riginality is what everybody wants, but there’s a sweet spot,” Rob Minkoff explains. “If it’s not original enough, it’s boring or trite. If it’s too original, it may be hard for the audience to understand. The goal is to push the envelope, not tear the envelope.”

They found that shared tactics were an important predictor of alliances. Even if they care about different causes, groups find affinity when they use the same methods of engagement.