Adam Grant

“If I had the day off and knew everyone else was voting, I wouldn't miss it. It would become a routine part of my responsibility as a citizen - like paying taxes, only less soul crushing.”

“Agreeable people are warm and friendly. They're nice; they're polite. You find a lot of them in Canada.”

“Saying no frees you up to say yes when it matters most.”

“Authenticity means erasing the gap between what you firmly believe inside and what you reveal to the outside world.”

“When a salesperson truly cares about you, trust forms, and you're more likely to buy, come back for repeat business, and refer new customers.”

“Creativity may be hard to nurture, but it's easy to thwart.”

“When writing 'Give and Take' and 'Originals,' the predominant emotion for me was curiosity.”

“Perhaps gaining power doesn't cause people to act like takers. It simply creates the opportunity for people who think like takers to express themselves.”

“Tweeting has taught me the discipline to say more with fewer words.”

“We all have original ideas. Even if we don't see ourselves as supercreative or as wild nonconformists, we have insights every day about how the world around us could be better. It might be a better way of running meetings in your office that would be less mind-numbing. It might be a little twist on a product or a service.”

“Takers believe in a zero-sum world, and they end up creating one where bosses, colleagues and clients don't trust them. Givers build deeper and broader relationships - people are rooting for them instead of gunning for them.”

“Geniuses don't have better ideas than the rest of us. They just have more of them.”

“One of the signs of a bad coworker is a pattern of persistent undermining - intentionally hindering a colleague's success, reputation, or relationships.”

“As more women 'lean in' and we collectively continue to fight sexism, there's another barrier to progress that hasn't been addressed: Many men who would like to see more women leaders are afraid to speak up about it.”

“When you're good at controlling your own emotions, you can disguise your true feelings. When you know what others are feeling, you can tug at their heartstrings and motivate them to act against their own best interests.”

“Some of the greatest moments in human history were fueled by emotional intelligence.”

“Meditation isn't snake oil. For some people, meditation might be the most efficient way to reduce stress and cultivate mindfulness. But it isn't a panacea. If you don't meditate, there's no need to stress out about it.”

“Authenticity is a virtue. But just as you can have too little authenticity, you can also have too much.”

“I have lots of micro-goals of trying to get things done, whatever the amount of time available.”

“Power frees us from the chains of conformity.”