Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently

What makes iconoclasts so astoundingly creative and successful?

They overcome mental barriers that stop most people cold. All people have three natural roadblocks in their brains that stand in the way of truly innovative thinking: flawed perception, fear of failure, and the inability to persuade others. But, like iconoclasts, you can break through these barriers.

Leading neuroscientist Gregory Berns shows how in his tour of the science behind thinking differently. Did you known that when you see the same thing over and over again, your brain expends less and less energy? Your mind already knows what it's seeing, so it doesn't make the effort to process the event again. Just putting yourself in new situations can make you see things differently and jump-start your creativity.

Berns connects insights like these to vivid stories of the iconoclasts who epitomize them. Young Walt Disney spent hours staring at his drawings on a move screen as he imagined motion pictures and illustrations combining in a revolutionary way. David Dreman, trader extraordinaire, overcame his fear of failure by understanding the psychology of the markets and capturing tremendous value in otherwise ignored stocks. Ray Kroc created new social connections with his McDonalds customers, dominating his industry.

The most creative and innovative ideas have come from individuals who do what other say can't be done. You, too, can break away from the innate urge to conform-and move beyond your previous limitations.

No organization can survive without iconoclasts — innovators who single-handedly upturn conventional wisdom and manage to achieve what so many others deem impossible.

Though indispensable, true iconoclasts are few and far between. In Iconoclast, neuroscientist Gregory Berns explains why. He explores the constraints the human brain places on innovative thinking, including fear of failure, the urge to conform, and the tendency to interpret sensory information in familiar ways.

Through vivid accounts of successful innovators ranging from glass artist Dale Chihuly to physicist Richard Feynman to country/rock trio the Dixie Chicks, Berns reveals the inner workings of the iconoclast's mind with remarkable clarity. Each engaging chapter goes on to describe practical actions we can each take to understand and unleash our own potential to think differently — such as seeking out new environments, novel experiences, and first-time acquaintances.

Packed with engaging stories, science-based insights, potent practices, and examples from a startling array of disciplines, this engaging book will help you understand how iconoclasts think and equip you to begin thinking more like an iconoclast yourself.

Publishers Weekly

Psychiatry professor Berns (Satisfaction: The Science of Finding True Fulfillment) describes an iconoclast as "a person who does something that others say can't be done." Though keeping his promise to reveal the "biological basis" for the ability to think outside the box, Berns keeps technical explanation to a minimum, instead using themes like perception, fear and networking to profile a number of famous free-thinkers. While the ordinary person perceives the world based on his past experience and "what other people say," the iconoclast is both willing and able to risk seeing things differently; in the case of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, his creative breakthrough (departing from symmetry in his ice-sculptures) came after a car crash blinded him in one eye, literally changing his view of the world. The will to take risks is also paramount; Cardinals baseball coach Branch Rickey and his controversial hire Jackie Robinson, the first black man in the Majors, provide models of imagination and fearlessness. Berns also looks at iconoclasts like Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Ford, the Dixie Chicks, Warren Buffett and Picasso, relating in lucid terms the mindsets that set them apart.
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Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University. He has written for numerous science publications and has been interviewed on National Public Radio, CNN, and ABC's Primetime. He has been profiled frequently in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other media.