Organizational psychologist Adam Grant helps build innovative, collaborative work cultures by activating trailblazers to improve the status quo.
An organizational psychologist and Wharton’s top-rated professor, Adam Grant is a deeply original thinker, a popular TED speaker, and one of the most influential advisors to American business today.
Researching motivation and meaningful work, he has constructed pioneering studies on workplace dynamics. Applying his novel thinking, Grant has formulated unique, counterintuitive ideas that are backed by data-driven management science and case studies.
Grant’s insights have been developed into a quartet of blockbuster books: Give and Take, Originals, and Option B, and Power Moves. Together, they have sold more than two million copies, been translated into 35 languages, and been praised by J.J. Abrams, Richard Branson, Bill and Melinda Gates, Malcolm Gladwell, and Malala Yousafzai. Grant also writes an opinion column on work, motivation, and values for The New York Times. His management advice and daily work insights have earned him a prodigious following – with over three million followers on social media and more than 100,000 subscribers to GRANTED, his free monthly newsletter. His TED Talks have drawn over 20 million views.
In his chart-topping TED podcast, WorkLife with Adam Grant, he takes audiences inside the minds of some of the world’s most extraordinary and unusual professionals “to explore the science of making work not suck.” From learning how to love criticism to creating workplaces without jerks, he ensures listeners will never see their job the same way again.
“We spend a quarter of our lives at work,” Grant says. “It’s time to make all that time worth your time,” he adds.
A wunderkind who finished his doctorate at the University of Michigan in less than three years, Grant – at age 29 – became the youngest tenured professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. For his distinct approach and perspective, he has been recognized as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers and was named in Fortune‘s 40 under 40 in 2016.
As a Harvard undergraduate, Grant was also a magician, Junior Olympic springboard diver, and an advertising director. As he progressed through various pursuits, he began to laser in on how people can follow their curiosity to find purpose and passion.
“I spent my whole job trying to master the people part of it,” he says. “I was hooked on the fact that so many of us spend so much of our waking hours at work, and very few of us find our jobs meaningful and motivating.” That early insight has become the cornerstone of his career.
Grant’s highly-rational, both-sides-of the coin approach resonates with organizations who want help figuring out whom to hire, how to keep employees motivated, and how to build a healthy workplace culture. His speaking and consulting clients have included some of the world’s top organizations, including Google, the NBA, the Gates Foundation, Disney Pixar, and the World Economic Forum, where he has been honored as a Young Global Leader. He currently serves on the U.S. Department of Defense Innovation Board.
No matter the forum, Grant proves himself a captivating showman who balances with ease the world of academia with popular culture. His engaging, dynamic sessions are peppered with humor and always backed by research and data.
With sage and also practical advice, Grant explores how individuals champion new ideas and leaders fight groupthink. He helps audiences reflect on and reframe the way they’ve organized their lives and businesses – to overcome complacency and drive forward meaningful change.