Givers and Takers

Never mind butcher, baker, or candlestick maker.

The people who float your workplace boat these days are takers, matchers and givers, according to a rising star in workaday psychology, Adam Grant, the youngest full professor at the Wharton School.Adam Grant. Source: sifma.org

This guy is only 42, but he’s already figured out how to navigate the concrete jungle and has written a New York Times bestseller about it, called, naturally, Give and Take. He’s also the subject of an article in Slate.

Even though Grant has the fast-track record we usually associate with a taker, those Gordon-Gecko-Greed-Is-Good types so familiar in the mythology of Corporate America, he tries to be a giver, not just because his research shows that nice guys (and girls) can finish first.

Givers are defined by the fact that they will take care of other people with no expectation of reward. They do it precisely because they are selfless. So you can’t game the give.

Source: amazon.co.ukMost of us are matchers in the middle – I’ll scratch your back with the understanding that you, at some point very soon, will scratch mine. Other people respect the matcher ethos, but no one actually loves a matcher, unless it’s the matcher’s mother, who is, by nature, a giver.

All the love is reserved for givers. Givers sow the seeds of harmony wherever they go. People want to work with them because they trust them…and know they’ll share the glory and take them blame.

 Do you know anybody like that? If you do, you probably follow them around with big puppy eyes.

Takers are toxic. Grant says it’s a good idea to keep a wooden stake, silver bullet and string of garlic handy to ward them off. Well, he doesn’t put in precisely those terms, but he does say that the negative impact of a taker can be three times that of the positive impact of a giver.

They suck the lifeblood out an organization.

There is an easy way to spot a taker and it’s not only because he or she doesn’t drink…wine. “The main sign that someone’s a taker is kissing up and kicking down,” he writes.

Just because you’re a giver doesn’t mean you put a Kick Me sign on your back before you go to work in the morning. Winning givers don’t allow themselves to be kicked or stepped on; they don’t overdo the giving to the detriment of their own work, and they give on a smartly-scheduled basis as opposed to on impulse or whim.Source: sliddeshow.com

Whatever you think (stop rolling your eyes), I think it‘s good to have permission to be a nice person. It’s ironic to discover that while we’ve spent our lives learning to eat other dogs, happiness is a warm puppy.

And if you’re a little bit good at being good, the rewards will come in your lifetime. Good dog!

Paul Sullivan is an award winning journalist and communications strategist in Vancouver , British Columbia.

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