GIVE AND TAKE BY ADAM GRANT

 



(A revolutionary approach to success at work and life).

Author:  Adam Grant

 Who is Adam Grant?

I cannot possibly do a comprehensive review of this book without giving an insight into the life and background of the author.

Adam Grant  an award wining researcher and Wharton’s height-rated professor. He holds a Phd in Organization Psychology from the University of Michigan and a BA from Harvard University. He is a former record-setting advertising director for junior Olympic Springboard and also professional magician. He is an award wining researcher  and teacher.

Adam Grant consults and speaks for Google,  NFL IBM, Gloxosmithkline, Goldman Sachs, The World Economic Forum, the United Nations, and the US Army and Navy.

He has been honoured as one of the business week’s favourite Professor. He is also one of the world’s  top forty business professors under the age of forty.

 INTRODUCTION:

The world has focused on the individuals drivers of success like passion, handwork, talents and luck. But today’s dramatically reconfigured world, success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others. The book “Give and Take” will illustrate and explain what effective networking, collaboration, influence, negotiation and leadership skills have in common.

Adam Grant, an award winning researcher and Wharton’s heights-rated professor, explains the surprising forces that shaped why some people rise to the top of ladder of success, while others sink to the bottom.

In day to day dealings with people, it was found out that most people operate either as Givers, Takers or Matchers. The illustrations from this books also reviewed how Takers strive to get as much as possible from others, Matchers aim to trade evenly, while Givers are the rare breed of people who contribute to others without expecting anything in return.

Although some Givers get exploited and give up, others achieve extra ordinary result with a wonderful network that will encourage others to guarantee giving.

Let us now x-ray the wonderful things this book will do for us.

GIVE AND TAKE: THINGS TO LEARN FROM THE BOOK

 1.     Who are Givers, Matchers and Takers.

 

  2.    Why people underestimate the act of giving.

  3.    How Givers, takers and matchers development networks and how their Interactions  within the networks have different characters and consequences.

4.    How Givers succeed by recognizing the potential in others.

5.    How to influence others through the act of giving.

6.    Why some givers burn out, while others don’t; how givers avoid being explored by takers and what individuals, groups and organizations can do to protect givers and spread their success.

 WHO ARE GIVERS, MATCHERS AND TAKERS?

There is this understanding that the highly successful people have three things in common, motivation, ability and opportunity. If we want to succeed, we need a combination of hard work talent and lucks. Success depends heavily on how we approach out interactions with other people. When we interact with other people at work, there are various choices available for us to make, do we try to claim as much value as we earn or contribute value without worming about what we receiving nature.

 In the past decades, social scientist have discovered that people differ in their desired rise of taking and giving.

 
TAKERS: 

Takers have distinctive signature; they like to get more than they give. They lift reciprocity in their own favour, putting their own interest ahead of others. Takers believe that the world is a competitive, dog-eat-dog place. They usually feel that to succeed, they need to do better than others. To prove their competence, they self-promote and make sure they get plenty of credit for their efforts. Takers usually think “if I don’t look out for myself first, no one will”.

 GIVERS: 

Givers are the opposite of takers. They prefer to give more than they get. Whereas takers tend to be self-focused, evaluating what other people can offer them, givers pays more attention to what other people need from them. Giver and takers are not distinguished by how much they donate to charity (which means the preferences are not about money). Later, givers and takers differ in their attitude and actions toward other people. If your as taker, you help others strategically. When the benefits to you out weight the personal costs. If you are a giver, you help whenever the benefits to others exceed the personal cost helping without expecting anything in return.

 If you are 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.

 

MATCHERS: 

These are people striving to preserve an equal balance of giving and taking. They operate the principle of fairness.  When they help others, they protect themselves by seeking returns.  Matchers believe in tit for tat, and their relationships are governed by even exchanges of favours.

Giving, Taking and Matching are three fundamental of social interaction, but the lines between them are not hard and fast. “What are you?

 

HOW GIVER TAKERS AND MATCHERS DEVELOP INTERACTIONS, CHARACTERS AND CONSEQUENSES WITHIN THE RELATIONSHIP.

Ultimately, givers and takers may have equal large relationships, givers are able to produce far more lasting value through their networks, and in ways that might not seen obvious. The more altruistic your attitude, the more benefits you will gain from the relationship. “If you set out to help others, you will rapidly reinforce your own reputation and expand your universe of possibilities”.

When we see a taker, we protect ourselves, withholding our trust and help. Many takers become good takers, acting  generously so that they end up pretending to be givers or matchers.

Takers live a life of quality referred as “Kissing up,  kicking down”. Takers tend to be dominant and controlling with subordinates, they are submissive and deferential toward superiors.

Takers many rise by kissing up, but they often fall by kicking down. As takers gain power, they pay less attention to how they are perceived by those below and  next to them. They feel entitled to purpose self-serving goals and claim as much value as they can. They end up treating peers and subordinates poorly and jeopardize their relationship and reputation. Matcher emphasise fairness, equality and reciprocity. When takers violate these principles, Matchers in their networks belive in an eye for an eye.

HOW GIVERS SUCCEED BY RECOGNIZING THE POTENTIALS IN OTHERS:

Givers recognize their possible power and influence in having a genuine interest and believe in the potential of their employees, engaging in actions that support others and commiserate that believe, increasing others motivation and effort and helping them achieve their potential.

Takers take little trust in other people. They hold relatively low expectations for the potential of their peers and subordinations. Also treat others with suspicion and distrust.

Even when takers are impressed by another person’s capabilities or motivation, they see the person as a threat, and will not be willing to support and develop him or her.

INFLUENCING OTHERS THROUGH THE ACT OF GIVING:

Research suggest that there are two fundamental paths to influence, dominance and prestige. When we establish dominance, we gain influence because others see us as strong, powerful, and authoritative. When we earn prestige, we become influential because others respect and admire us.

Takers in an efforts to claim as much value as possible, they strive to be superior to others. To establish domination, takers specialize in powerful communication, they speak forcefully, raise their voices to assert their authority, express certainty to project  confidence and promote their accomplishments.

CONCLUSION:

Giving and taking are based on motives and values and they are choices that we make regardless of whether our personalities trend agreeable or disagreeable. Whether you are nice or not nice is separate from whether you are self-focused or other focused. They are independent not opposites.

We engage in truly selfless giving when we feel empathy for another person in need. Feeling of concern and compassion certainly motivate us to act for the benefit of others at a personal cost.

If we empathize with other people to the point of merging our own identities with theirs, we care about  them as much as we care about ourselves. This is because we no longer place our interest above theirs.

Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor once said,

“Some people, when they do someone a favour, are always booking for a chance to call it in. And some aren’t but they’re still aware of it – still regard it as a debt.  But others don’t even do that. They are like a vine that produces grapes without looking for anything in return….. after helping others….. They just go on to something else….. We should be like that”.

And that is the true road to success!!!

Thank you.