Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

In Chapter 3, Grant shares strategies for speaking to authority figures without jeopardizing one’s career or credibility. There are ways to make an unconventional opinion heard without repelling others: Grant cites the story of Carmen Medina, who spent a decade trying to convince her workplace, the CIA, to switch from paper to digital means to store and share information. She insisted the internet would make their process easier and faster. Her idea was rejected for years because she became angry and forceful, repeating herself and never changing her strategy. Eventually, Medina learned to communicate in a way that convinced those in power to change their minds. Grant explains that employee feedback is often rejected and may harm one’s career even if approached correctly. However, there are still ways to do so successfully.

Grant argues that there are two “major dimensions of social hierarchy” (71) which often get confused with one another: power and status. Power comprises exerting control over another, whereas status is about “being respected and admired” (71). In Medina’s case, she lacked status with her colleagues and superiors, and since they did not take her suggestions seriously, she slowly became belligerent and resentful. Grant cites an experiment in which people placed in power were told that their fellow group members lacked respect for them; these people were almost twice as likely to use their assigned power to degrade the rest of the group.