Perhaps the Most Important Business Book Written in the Last Fifty Years
Adam Grant, Professor at the Wharton School of Business, has managed to create in his book – Give and Take – a modern day, evidence-based justification that “The More You Give, the More You Receive” is actually how life works. And surprisingly, as a majority of Wharton’s graduates head to jobs in Finance, Consulting, and Banking, Grant has shown that even in those industries where “It is better to Take than to Receive” is often the preferred mantra, the Givers outshine the Takers in the long run. But he doesn’t stop there, he includes real world examples from politics, teaching, venture capital, technology, and even comedy writing.
Grant’s thesis breaks the world into 3 types of people – Takers, Matchers, and Givers – and that “every time we interact with another person at work, we have a choice to make: do we try to claim as much value as we can, or contribute value without worrying about what we receive in return?”
Most of us operate in the Matcher category in our professional lives, dislike the Takers, and feel sorry for the Givers.
Givers and takers differ in their attitudes and actions toward other people. If you’re a taker, you help others strategically when it benefits to you outweigh the personal costs. If you’re a giver, you might use a different cost-benefit analysis: you help whenever the benefits to others exceed the personal costs. Alternatively, you might not think about the personal costs at all, helping others without expecting anything in return. If you’re a giver at work, you simply strive to be generous in sharing your time, energy, knowledge, skills, ideas, and connections with other people who can benefit from them.
Grants points out that most of the time in personal relationships – marriages as an example – we act more like Givers. But once we show up at work, we tend to migrate to the Matching style:
In the workplace, give and take becomes more complicated. Professionally, few of us act purely like givers or takers, adopting a third style instead. We become matchers, striving to preserve an equal balance of giving and getting. Matchers operate on the principle of fairness: when they help others, they protect themselves by seeking reciprocity. If you’re a matcher, you believe in tit for tat, and your relationships are governed by even exchanges of favors. In general, you shift from one reciprocity style to another as you travel across different work roles and relationships.
Grant’s research showed that in the short run, the Takers in professional environments definitely come out ahead. But in the medium to long term, the givers take the lead position. Why? Because the giver’s start receiving back from others over time and there is a natural delay involved with that cycle. In addition, people who have been “taken advantage of” by a Taker start to catch on and become less cooperative. We “learn our lesson” and it takes ever greater effort and resources for the Takers to stay at the same level of achievement.
Givers succeed in a way that creates a ripple effect, enhancing the success of people around them. You’ll see that the difference lies in how giver success creates value, instead of just claiming it. As the venture capitalist Randy Komisar remarks, ‘It’s easier to win if everybody wants you to win. If you don’t make enemies out there, it’s easier to succeed.
It’s the Environment
Most of us understand and value the benefits of being givers, but we can often be dismayed by our external environmental clues that indicate that there is not enough for everyone, that it’s a zero-sum game, and that it’s better to get ours before the serious Takers come and really mess things up:
People who prefer to give or match often feel pressured to lean in the taker direction when they perceive a workplace as zero-sum. Whether it’s a company with forced ranking systems, a group of firms vying to win the same clients, or a school with required grading curves and more demand than supply for desirable jobs, it’s only natural to assume that peers will lean more toward taking than giving….The fear of exploitation of takers is so pervasive, writes the Cornell economist Robert Frank, that by ‘encouraging us to expect the worst in others it brings out the worst in us: dreading the role of the chump, we are often loath to heed our nobler instincts.
This issue illustrates some of the key mistakes in human thinking that currently hamper global harmony. We see each other as separate entities with no interconnection operating within a world with limited abundance. Our eyes get fooled by appearances rather than understanding the true nature of reality – that we are highly interconnected at subatomic levels and our actions, thoughts, and emotions are affecting each other constantly. In addition, what we think, has great effect on what we materialize into our physical reality.
Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. – Christianity
Oneness
In this context, Grant’s book actually starts to prove out basic concepts of Quantum Physics – that the world is essentially a sea of energy waves with infinite possibilities. And, wave energy does not become a material particle until we observe or choose it. We thus have great power over our life by deciding what to experience by our thoughts and the choices we make. In this way, Givers make a choice to give and that choice is what is given back – giving equals giving in return. Matchers do the same – they limit their generosity and the world responds exactly in kind by limiting its generosity in return (the wave function collapses into particle reality). Takers encounter the same – they choose taking, and the universe takes back from them. The giving and taking do not come from the same place – i.e., the person who you gave to is not necessarily the person who gives back. Everything is interconnected so you give to one person and another person is the vehichle which gives back to you or you take from one person and someone takes from you in a different context. In this way, our physical reality essentially operates as a mirror – showing us the effects of our thoughts and actions as a learning tool for our spiritual and moral development.
Every man must decide if he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. – Samuel Johnson
People get stuck on the idea of there being limited abundance. Only so many raises, promotions, etc. But Grant shows that Givers have figured out that giving is actually the secret ingredient for success – giving generates more giving – much of which will come back to you – as well as going to others. It’s a form of paying it forward and knowing that life is a virtuous circle. Here he highlights the approach of master Silicon Valley Giver, Engineer, and Entrepreneur Adam Rifkin:
This is a new spin on reciprocity. In traditional old school reciprocity, people operated like matchers, trading value back and forth with one another. We helped the people who helped us, and we gave to the people who from whom we wanted something in return. But today, givers like Adam Rifkin are able to spark a more powerful form of reciprocity. Instead of trading value, Rifkin aims to add value…Rifkin doesn’t think about what any of the people he helps will give back to him. Whereas takers accumulate large networks to look important and gain access to powerful people, and matchers do it to get favors, Rifkin does it to get more opportunities for giving. In the words of Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, “I’ll do this for you without expecting anything specific back from you, in the confident expectation that someone else will do something for me down the road.” When people feel grateful for Rifkin’s help, they’re more likely to pay it forward.
But with so many benefits, why don’t more people adopt a Giving approach? I think it stems from a lack of belief that proactive giving will be reciprocated. We are uncertain of the “hidden hand” of reciprocity that will reward us for our efforts. What’s missing for most people is an understanding of the true nature of reality – that the people who will give back to us are not separate discrete entities that may or may not “get the message” or the urge to give back to us when we need it. The underlying interconnectedness and one consciousness between all of us is the communication link that coordinates all events. This Source Energy, Prana, or Chi has a mechanism (through Quantum Principles) that works automatically and seamlessly and knows all our thoughts and actions and gives us back exactly what we give. We just need to have faith in it. The more we give the more we get as many ancient traditions have stated:
If you would take, you first must give. – Taoism
What goes out from thee, comes back to thee again. – Confucianism
At it’s core Give and Take is a love story. The book asks us to revisit our basic understanding of whether it’s better to lead a life which is focused on “Service to Others” or “Service to Self”. It shows in dramatic fashion how those who give unreservedly with no expectations, in a loving way, are rewarded with the most love in return. The world of work could use a lot more of that, yes?
In essence, Adam Grant has created a wonderful “gateway” book for the 21st century. A gateway to achieving Unity in all forms and in every aspect of our lives – the professional and personal. It’s difficult to speak of spirituality in the work place of 2015 due to our many different spiritual and religious backgrounds, but until we are “all on the same page”, with Give and Take Grant has given us a tool to implement through modern day language, metaphors, and behavioral research the concepts that ancient sages, saints, and traditions have been telling us for thousands of years: When we give to others, we give to ourselves. We are all One. We can now start speaking openly about the pros and cons of being Takers, Matchers, and Givers and implement real change in a place where we spend most of our waking life – at work:
In the mind of a giver, the definition of success itself takes on a distinctive meaning. Whereas takers view success as attaining results that are superior to other’ and matchers see success in terms of balancing individual accomplishments with fairness to others, givers are inclined to characterizing success in terms of making significant and lasting contributions to a broad range of people. Taking this definition of success seriously might require dramatic changes in the way that organizations hire, evaluate, reward, and promote people. It would mean paying attention not only to the productivity of individual people but also to the ripple effects of this productivity on others. If success required benefiting others, it’s possible that takers and matchers would be more inclined to find ‘otherish’ ways to advance personal and collective interests simultaneously.
And thus, a roadmap for achieving a more sane, inclusive, and harmonious society is born…Get this book, read it, implement its core messages, and then give a copy to others. The world is waiting for more giving…don’t wait a minute longer.
~Jay Kshatri
www.ThinkSmarterWorld.com
For Further Exploration:
The Benefit Corporation – A new business structure that gives depth to Conscious Capitalism
The 3 C’s of a Modern and Enlightened Society
Quantum Economics: Unleasing the Power of an Economics of Consciousness, by Amit Goswami
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