Are You A Giver or Taker?

And why it affects your success

This is interesting.

A recent book, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success, by Adam Grant, a professor at Wharton, makes the case that “…people tend to have one of three ‘styles’ of interaction. There are TAKERS, who are always trying to serve themselves; MATCHERS, who are always trying to get equal benefit for themselves and others; and GIVERS who are always trying to help people.”

The part that really resonated for me was Grant’s finding that Givers are the most likely to succeed, and he says that is because success does not simply depend on talent or hard work, but also on how we interact with others.

Think about your co-workers. I bet you can name the Takers almost immediately. Everything is always about them, their needs, their ego, their project, their success. They think everyone is like them so if they’re not assertive about their needs, they’ll get walked over and forgotten.

Givers tend to be more optimistic about people and what they’re capable of becoming. They look for good in almost everyone, encourage altruism by their own altruistic behavior, not thinking of how it will help them, but merely seeing a need, knowing they can help, and doing so.

That’s the kind of behavior none of us forget. We want to reward it. We want to be enveloped in it.

While most of us are somewhere in between these two extremes, the book makes a great case for fighting the impulse to take. It’s worth your time this summer.