Adam Grant was teaching his first class at the Wharton Business School when a student came up to him with an interesting proposition.

He says, I've got this big idea. Three friends and I are going to start an online business. And we're going to disrupt an industry. Do you want to invest?

But from what Adam could see, this group of friends wasn't doing so well and getting that big idea off the ground.

Six months go by, it's the day before launch, they still don't have a functioning website. The whole business is a website. That's literally all it is.

And so I obviously passed on the investment.

The name of the company.

Warby Parker, they were just named the most innovative company in the world by fast company and they're worth over a billion dollars, which is why my wife handles all her investments now.

I'm Shankar Vedantanthan and this week on Hidden Brain, Originals, how to spot one, how to be one.

We bring you my conversation with Adam Grant, he's a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and he's the author of the new book, Originals, how non-conformist move the world.

I asked Adam what the Warby Parker episode had taught him about the qualities of innovators.

They often procrastinate and that's how they incubate ideas.

What parents can do to nurture originality in their kids.

Their parents focus more on values than rules.

And the downside of marching to the beat of your own drum.

One of the risks is you have everybody marching in a different direction.

Looking back now Adam, looking back if you could go back and talk to the old Adam, what would you tell that Adam?

I would say that I was totally wrong about what it takes to be original.

I think of original people as the non-conformist who drive creativity and change in the world.

And I would say they often procrastinate and that's how they incubate ideas.

They feel the same fears and doubts that the rest of us do.

They just manage them differently.

They hate taking risks.

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