The world evolves around those original thinkers.

Original is not ordinary, nor is it primitive.

Original thinkers are the one being able to break down complicated factual and imaginative ideas into a unique point of view and present in a simple, clear, and convincing way for the audience to follow.

There are many original thinkers, household names such as Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, but today I want to talk about Adam Grant and Virgil Abloh.

After reading Grant’s book “Originals”, I started to research him and found the easiest way to learn from his wisdom is by following his instagram account. Every day, he posts simple yet meaningful note. Many of them are about social science, cognitive and workplace behavior. His note, though short, is full of insights and gets me to think. Like those great teacher, I find his words to be useful and applicable to my job and life.

The other original thinker that I want to mention today is Virgil Abloh.

To those people who are closely following fashion, street culture, or sneaker culture, he is not a stranger. He just passed away last week, and he was just 42.

Virgil was known and recognized through the ten projects – A collaboration between him and the swoosh brand to remake ten of the most popular silohoutte. As a designer and an original thinker, his vision to deconstruct athletic performance shoes, and instilled them with an unique combined view of fashion, innovation, and art, eventually made these ten shoes to drive incredible sales performance. And with the introduction of these ten silohoutte, the boundaries between high end luxury and grass root sports suddenly got blurry.

My takeaway from him before his passage was his design and creative sense in construct and deconstruct. And the news of him being a great friend of many and an amazing human being, made me appreciate him even more.

Working in the sports and lifestyle industry, everyday I like to challenge myself and asking am I doing the right thing, doing things in original way, and making things better. There are always voices in my head debating with each others about how my ideas and words can alter the direction, and as I get more experienced, I realized the importance of how to use my attention, energy, and emotion.

Ultimately, I think the cover of Originals says the best “Non-Conformists move the world.” There is no right or wrong point of view, only your best point of view. Challenge yourself with the highest standards to be original, and I think good things might come.