Originals

In 2009, four students walked into Adam Grant's office with an idea that seemed ridiculous. They wanted to sell eyeglasses online. At the time, nobody bought glasses without trying them on. The eyewear industry was dominated by a single giant, Luxottica, which controlled 85 percent of licensing, production, and distribution. A pair of glasses cost twenty times what it took to make them. The students had no background in retail, fashion, or technology. Grant passed on investing. It became his biggest financial regret.

Those four students founded Warby Parker. Within a month, they sold out their initial inventory. Within a year, they'd donated over a million pairs of glasses and built a company valued at over a billion dollars. Grant's mistake wasn't a failure of intelligence. It was a failure of imagination. He accepted the default assumption that an online eyewear company couldn't work.

This is the fundamental challenge of originality. We're surrounded by defaults—the standard options, the conventional wisdom, the way things have always been done. Most of us accept them without question. Originals don't.

**What is an original?**

An original is someone who takes the initiative to make their vision a reality by championing an unusual idea that has the potential to improve a domain. Grant is careful to note that true originality doesn't exist—every idea is borrowed or influenced by something. But creativity allows people to invent new concepts and adapt old ones. The defining characteristic isn't genius. It's the willingness to reject the default and explore whether a better option exists.

There are two paths to achievement: conformity and originality. Conformity follows the well-worn path, maintaining the status quo. Originality pursues an unusual idea that could improve things. Most people choose conformity not because they lack creativity, but because they fear the costs of standing out.

**The trap of system justification**

Psychologist John Jost discovered something troubling. The people who are most disadvantaged by the current system are often the most likely to defend it. He called this phenomenon "system justification"—an emotional defense mechanism that protects people from facing the world's injustices. When you believe the system is fair, you don't have to feel the pain of being treated unfairly. But this comfort comes at a cost. It robs people of their creative spirit and their moral outrage.

System justification is why employees who accept default web browsers perform worse than those who actively choose alternatives. Economist Michael Housman studied workers across banks, airlines, and cellular companies. He found that employees who used Firefox or Chrome—browsers requiring an active download rather than accepting a pre-installed default—consistently outperformed their colleagues. The browser choice itself didn't cause better performance. It revealed something deeper: a tendency to seek better options. These employees didn't just accept what was given to them. They looked for improvements in their tools, their processes, and their work.

**The Warby Parker lesson**

The Warby Parker founders didn't have special vision. They had a specific insight: someone had looked at the eyewear industry and asked why glasses cost so much. They traced the problem to Luxottica's near-monopoly. Then they asked whether there was a better way. That's the seed of all originality—not a flash of genius, but a simple question: "Why is this the default?"

Grant's analysis of his own mistake is revealing. He didn't reject Warby Parker because he thought it was a bad idea. He rejected it because he couldn't evaluate it properly. He lacked knowledge of the eyewear industry, so he fell back on the default assumption that selling glasses online wouldn't work. This is the pattern that kills original ideas: we judge them against existing defaults rather than against their potential.

**How originality actually works**

Here's the framework for becoming an original. It has three steps, and they're simpler than you might think.

First, identify a default in your life or work. A default is any standard way of doing things that you've accepted without questioning. It could be the software your company uses, the way you run meetings, the price structure in your industry, or even the browser on your computer. Most defaults exist because they're convenient, not because they're optimal.

Second, ask whether a better option exists. This isn't about rejecting everything for the sake of rebellion. It's about genuine curiosity. The Warby Parker founders didn't reject eyewear conventions because they wanted to be different. They rejected them because they found a genuine problem: glasses cost far more than they should.

Third, take the initiative to make your vision a reality. This is where most people stop. They identify a problem, imagine a solution, and then wait for permission or resources. Originals act. They start small, test their ideas, and build momentum.

**The practical test**

Here's how to apply this today. Look at one default in your work that you've never questioned. Maybe it's the way you structure your day, the tools you use, or a process that everyone complains about but nobody changes. Write down why this default exists. Then write down what would happen if you rejected it. Not whether it would be difficult—whether a better option might exist.

This exercise reveals something important. Most defaults persist not because they're good, but because they're comfortable. The Warby Parker founders succeeded because they were willing to sit in the discomfort of uncertainty long enough to find a better way.

**The real barrier**

Grant's opening story makes a crucial point. The barrier to originality isn't lack of ideas. It's the way we evaluate ideas. When Grant heard the Warby Parker pitch, he didn't think, "This could be the next billion-dollar company." He thought, "Nobody buys glasses online." He accepted the default assumption without testing it.

This is why originality begins with rejecting defaults. Not because every default is wrong, but because you can't know which defaults are worth keeping until you question them. The most creative people aren't those with the most brilliant ideas. They're the ones who refuse to accept that the way things are is the way things have to be.

**What comes next**

Understanding that originality starts with rejecting defaults is only the beginning. The real question is how to act on that insight without destroying your career or your finances. Originals face a paradox: they need to take risks to pursue their ideas, but taking too many risks leads to failure. In the next section, we'll explore how the most successful originals solve this problem by building safety nets that enable bold action.

But first, ask yourself: What default are you accepting right now that might be hiding a better option?