The one skill you need to succeed in your career in a turbulent world - by Adam Grant | from Radio Davos

**Adam Grant** (0:00)
When I was at the 2026 World Economic Forum earlier this year, I recorded a few conversations that you've been hearing. One with Matt Damon and the CEO of water.org, one with footballer David Beckham, another with musician John Baptiste and writer Suleika Jawad. Today, I'm bringing you something a little different from that event. This is an episode of Radio Davos, where I'm the guest, hosted by journalist Robin Pomeroy. I hope you enjoy it.
We don't live in a stable world anymore. We live in a rapidly changing, turbulent world.
In a dynamic environment, intelligence is not just your ability to think and learn, it's your capacity to rethink and unlearn.

**Robin Pomeroy** (0:39)
Welcome to Radio Davos, the podcast from the World Economic Forum. He's a bestselling author. His name is Adam Grant. His books include Think Again.

**Adam Grant** (0:47)
On the I'm not biased bias.
I think of it as the mother of all biases, Robin. It's the belief that you might have flaws in your thinking, that I'm neutral, I'm rational, and the danger of that is, the better you are at thinking, often the worst you are at rethinking.

**Robin Pomeroy** (1:04)
What would you hope might happen in the world? What would you like to see?

**Adam Grant** (1:09)
One of my biggest hopes, Robin, is that we change what we value in leadership. There's a cluster of personality traits that are called the dark triad. They are narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.
And this is the exact opposite of what we should be looking for in leadership. I would love to see that tide turn in 2026 I would love for boards of directors when it comes to choosing CEOs, voters when it comes to electing politicians, to put their foot down and say, character matters as much as competence and charisma. And if you are not willing to put the best interests of the collective above yourself, you are unfit to lead.

**Robin Pomeroy** (1:50)
Welcome to Radio Davos, the podcast from the World Economic Forum that looks at biggest challenges and how we might solve them. I'm Robin Palmer and on this episode, which we're recording at the Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos, I'm talking to just a great guest, who is an organizational psychologist. He'll tell us what that is. He's a best-selling author. His name is Adam Grant. His books include Think Again, The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know and Hidden Potential, The Science of Achieving Greater Things.
You may know him from his podcast, ReThinking and Work Life, and his monthly newsletter that reaches 200,000 people. Adam Grant, it's a joy to meet you. How are you doing?

**Adam Grant** (2:33)
It's great to be here, Robin. Thanks for having me.

**Robin Pomeroy** (2:35)
Now, you've been at Davos several times. I've seen you around before.
I remember the first time I saw you was in the Congress Center, just out in that kind of atrium area, and you were mobbed by people. Considering this is a place full of chief executives and heads of government, I had to fight my way through to you. Everyone wants to talk to Adam Grant. My first question to you, what are they asking you?

**Adam Grant** (3:01)
I think it's changed over time. I think when I first started coming, people mostly wanted career and leadership advice.
Now, I'm hearing many more questions about, how do I drive major changes? How do I shift a culture? Can I get a selfie occasionally? Which I never know why anyone wants that. But I think people are really thinking more globally and more macro about, how do we fix broken systems?

**Robin Pomeroy** (3:26)
And what's the question they should be asking? What would you ask yourself if you came across you in a conference somewhere?

**Adam Grant** (3:32)
I think the, I don't know, the question I'm always excited to get is, what's something you learned lately that surprised you or changed your mind?

**Robin Pomeroy** (3:39)
Adam Grant, what's something you learned lately that surprised you or changed your mind?

**Adam Grant** (3:43)
You know, one of my big surprises recently was, there's this whole debate about attention spans. And, you know, in the TikTok generation, you know, attention spans supposedly are shrinking.
Not so fast, says a big meta-analysis, a study of studies, dozens of studies, thousands of people. If you look at tests of concentration over a three-decade period, adults and children have not gotten worse.
They're just as good. In some cases, they're even better. So what's going on there?
I started digging into the research and it turns out, it's not our ability to pay attention that's suffering. It's our motivation. We're used to looking for the next shiny object. And the good news is that people are fully capable of focusing for extended periods of time if you sustain their interest. And frankly, that explains something that's mystified me for a long time, which is why are these teenagers who supposedly can't pay attention to anything, binging eight hours of a show on Netflix? That requires sustained attention. Why are they sitting playing video games for 14 hours at a time? That requires sustained attention. And I think what's distinctive about video games and great shows is they are motivating. They spark our interest, they maintain our interest, and I think we need to get better at that.