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![Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by [Adam Grant]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41APxa5zl7L._SY346_.jpg)
Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success Kindle Edition
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'Brimming with life-changing insights' Susan Cain, author of Quiet
'Excellent' Financial Times
Everybody knows that hard work, luck and talent each plays a role in our working lives. In his landmark book, Adam Grant illuminates the importance of a fourth, increasingly critical factor - that the best way to get to the top is to focus on bringing others with you.
Give and Take changes our fundamental understanding of why we succeed, offering a new model for our relationships with colleagues, clients and competitors. Using his own cutting-edge research as a professor at Wharton Business School, as well as success stories from Hollywood to history, Grant shows that nice guys need not finish last. He demonstrates how smart givers avoid becoming doormats, and why this kind of success has the power to transform not just individuals and groups, but entire organisations and communities.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWeidenfeld & Nicolson
- Publication date11 April 2013
- File size897 KB
Product description
Book Description
From the Back Cover
We are taught to think that people who give without expecting anything in return are at risk of being exploited - but the truth is that they are often the most successful.
Everybody knows that hard work, luck and talent each plays a role in getting ahead. In his landmark book, Adam Grant illuminates the importance of a fourth factor. He shows that the best way to get to the top is not to focus on your solo journey, but on bringing others with you.
Filled with surprising success stories from history to Hollywood, Give and Take demolishes the 'me first' worldview and presents an approach to work, team-building and productivity that is nothing short of revolutionary.
Using his own cutting-edge research as a professor at Wharton Business School, Adam Grant shows how smart givers avoid becoming doormats, and why his route to success has the power to transform not just individuals, but entire organisations and communities.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.From the Publisher
From the Inside Flap
Everybody knows that hard work, luck and talent each plays a role in our working lives. In his landmark book, Adam Grant illuminates the importance of a fourth, increasingly critical factor - our reciprocity, the way we interact with others when exchanging value. Give and Take changes our fundamental understanding of why we succeed, offering a new model for our relationships with colleagues, clients and competitors. It demolishes the argument of the 'me first' worldview and shows that the best way to get to the top is to focus not on your solo journey but on bringing others with you.
Engaging, intriguing and filled with surprising success stories from history to Hollywood, Give and Take presents an approach to work, team building, productivity and profitability that is nothing short of revolutionary. We have been taught to think that people who give without expecting anything in return are at risk of being exploited, or burning out, but the truth is that they are often the most successful people in any given field.
Using his own cutting-edge research as a professor at Wharton Business School, Adam Grant shows how helping others can lead to greater personal success. He demonstrates how smart givers avoid becoming doormats, and why this kind of success has the power to transform not just individuals and groups, but entire organisations and communities.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.Review
--Robert Sutton, author of The No *sshole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss
"Give and Take is a truly exhilarating book--the rare work that will shatter your assumptions about how the world works and keep your brain firing for weeks after you've turned the last page."
--Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind
"Give and Take is brimming with life-changing insights. As brilliant as it is wise, this is not just a book--it's a new and shining worldview. Adam Grant is one of the great social scientists of our time, and his extraordinary new book is sure to be a bestseller."
--Susan Cain, author of Quiet
"Give and Take cuts through the clutter of clichés in the marketplace and provides a refreshing new perspective on the art and science of success. Adam Grant has crafted a unique, 'must have' toolkit for accomplishing goals through collaboration and reciprocity."
--William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
"Give and Take is a pleasure to read, extraordinarily informative, and will likely become one of the classic books on workplace leadership and management. It has changed the way I see my personal and professional relationships, and has encouraged me to be a more thoughtful friend and colleague."
--Jeff Ashby, NASA space shuttle commander
"With Give and Take, Adam Grant has marshaled compelling evidence for a revolutionary way of thinking about personal success in business and in life. Besides the fundamentally uplifting character of the case he makes, readers will be delighted by the truly engaging way he makes it. This is a must read."
--Robert Cialdini, author of Influence
"Give and Take is a brilliant, well-documented, and motivating debunking of 'good guys finish last'! I've noticed for years that generosity generates its own kind of equity, and Grant's fascinating research and engaging style have created not only a solid validation of that principle but also practical wisdom and techniques for utilizing it more effectively. This is a super manifesto for getting meaningful things done, sustainably."
--David Allen, author of Getting Things Done
"Packed with cutting-edge research, concrete examples, and deep insight, Give and Take offers extraordinarily thought-provoking--and often surprising--conclusions about how our interactions with others drive our success and happiness. This important and compulsively-readable book deserves to be a huge success."
--Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home
"One of the great secrets of life is that those who win most are often those who give most. In this elegant and lucid book, filled with compelling evidence and evocative examples, Adam Grant shows us why and how this is so. Highly recommended!"
--William Ury, coauthor of Getting to Yes and author of The Power of a Positive No
"Good guys finish first--and Adam Grant knows why. Give and Take is the smart surprise you can't afford to miss.
--Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness
"Give and Take is an enlightening read for leaders who aspire to create meaningful and sustainable changes to their environments. Grant demonstrates how a generous orientation toward others can serve as a formula for producing successful leaders and organizational performance. His writing is as engaging and enjoyable as his style in the classroom."
--Kenneth Frazier, Chairman, President, and CEO of Merck & Co.
"In this riveting and sparkling book, Adam Grant turns the conventional wisdom upside-down about what it takes to win and get ahead. With page-turning stories and compelling studies, Give and Take reveals the surprising forces behind success, and the steps we can take to enhance our own."
--Laszlo Bock, Senior Vice President of People Operations, Google
"Give and Take dispels commonly held beliefs that equate givers with weakness and takers with strength. Grant shows us the importance of nurturing and encouraging prosocial behaviors."
--Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational
"Give and Take defines a road to success marked by new ways of relating to colleagues and customers as well as new ways of growing a business."
--Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com and author of Delivering Happiness
"A milestone! Well-researched, generous, actionable and important. Adam Grant has given us a gift, a hard-hitting book about the efficacy of connection and generosity in everything we do."
--Seth Godin, bestselling author of The Icarus Deception and Tribes
"Give and Take will fundamentally change the way you think about success. Unfortunately in America, we have too often succumbed to the worldview that if everyone behaved in their own narrow self-interest, all would be fine. Adam Grant shows us with compelling research and fascinating stories there is a better way."
--Lenny Mendonca, Director, McKinsey & Co.
"Adam Grant, a rising star of positive psychology, seamlessly weaves together science and stories of business success and failure, convincing us that giving is in the long run the recipe for success in the corporate world. En route you will find yourself re-examining your own life. Read it yourself, then give copies to the people you care most about in this world."
--Martin Seligman, author of Learned Optimism and Flourish
"Give and Take presents a groundbreaking new perspective on success. Adam Grant offers a captivating window into innovative principles that drive effectiveness at every level of an organization and can immediately be put into action. Along with being a fascinating read, this book holds the key to a more satisfied and productive workplace, better customer relationships, and higher profits."
--Chip Conley, Founder, Joie de Vivre Hotels and author, Peak and Emotional Equations
"Give and Take is a game changer. Reading Adam Grant's compelling book will change the way doctors doctor, managers manage, teachers teach, and bosses boss. It will create a society in which people do better by being better. Read the book and change the way you live and work."
--Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice and Practical Wisdom
"Give and Take is a new behavioral benchmark for doing business for better, providing an inspiring new perspective on how to succeed to the benefit of all. Adam Grant provides great support for the new paradigm of creating a 'win win' for people, planet and profit with many fabulous insights and wonderful stories to get you fully hooked and infected with wanting to give more and take less.
--Jochen Zeitz, former CEO and chairman, PUMA
"Give and Take is a real gift. Adam Grant delivers a triple treat: stories as good as a well-written novel, surprising insights drawn from rigorous science, and advice on using those insights to catapult ourselves and our organizations to success. I can't think of another book with more powerful implications for both business and life."
--Teresa Amabile, author of The Progress Principle
"Adam Grant has written a landmark book that examines what makes some extraordinarily successful people so great. By introducing us to highly-impressive individuals, he proves that, contrary to popular belief, the best way to climb to the top of the ladder is to take others up there with you. Give and Take presents the road to success for the 21st century."
--Maria Eitel, founding CEO and President of the Nike Foundation
"What The No *sshole Rule did for corporate culture, Give and Take does for each of us as individuals. Grant presents an evidence-based case for the counterintuitive link between generosity and finishing first."
--Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, coauthors of Difficult Conversations
"Adam Grant is a wunderkind. He has won every distinguished research award and teaching award in his field, and his work has changed the way that people see the world. If you want to be surprised--very pleasantly surprised--by what really drives success, then Give and Take is for you. If you want to make the world a better place, read this book. If you want to make your life better, read this book."
--Tal Ben-Shahar, author of Happier
"In an era of business literature that drones on with the same-old, over-used platitudes, Adam Grant forges brilliant new territory. Give and Take helps readers understand how to maximize their effectiveness and help others simultaneously. It will serve as a new framework for both insight and achievement. A must read!"
--Josh Linkner, founder of ePrize, CEO of Detroit Venture Partners, and author of Disciplined Dreaming¶
About the Author
Adam's TED talks have been viewed more than 20 million times. He hosts the chart-topping TED podcast WorkLife. His speaking and consulting clients include Google, the NBA, Bridgewater, and the Gates Foundation. He has been recognized as one of the world's 10 most influential management thinkers, Fortune's 40 under 40, Oprah's Super Soul 100, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and received distinguished scientific achievement awards from the American Psychological Association and the National Science Foundation. Adam writes for the New York Times on work and psychology and serves on the Department of Defense Innovation Board. He received his B.A. from Harvard and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and he is a former Junior Olympic springboard diver. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Allison, their two daughters, and their son.
--This text refers to the hardcover edition.Product details
- ASIN : B00CAUH7UE
- Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson (11 April 2013)
- Language : English
- File size : 897 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 321 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 13,775 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 4 in Business Management Science
- 12 in Entrepreneurship (Kindle Store)
- 12 in Management Science
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

ADAM GRANT is an organizational psychologist at Wharton, where he has been the top-rated professor for seven straight years. A #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of TED’s most popular speakers, his books have sold millions of copies and been translated into 35 languages, his talks have been viewed over 25 million times, and his podcast WorkLife has topped the charts. His pioneering research has inspired people to rethink fundamental assumptions about motivation, generosity, and creativity. He has been recognized as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers and Fortune’s 40 under 40, and has received distinguished scientific achievement awards from the American Psychological Association and the National Science Foundation. His work has been praised by J.J. Abrams, Richard Branson, Bill and Melinda Gates, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Kahneman, John Legend, and Malala Yousafzai. Adam received his B.A. from Harvard and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and he is a former Junior Olympic springboard diver. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and their three children.
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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Particularly love that this book gives hope to anyone who gives in a corporate setting.
Great advice on how to give thoughtfully and avoid door mat syndrome.
I also found how to spot a taker by their social media profile helpful.
It's so good we can acknowledge that not everyone is selling to maximise their own utility.
Well written and evidenced with research. An essential read.
The problem arises when you read the VC's blog, and he says: " in my 13 years in the venture business I had never once funded a company that hadn't been introduced to me by someone I knew and trusted."
So who do you believe? I'm believing the VC. Ventureblog.com 09/06/2013
One star for making stories up.
Top reviews from other countries

Grant’s idea is that, at work, most people operate as either takers, matchers, or givers. Takers want to get as much possible out of another person, matchers want to give and take in equal measure and givers don’t expect anything for their contribution. If you’re interested, you can take a quick quiz online to see which category you fall into: Give and Take Quiz
“As Samuel Johnson purportedly wrote, “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”
To explain these concepts, Grant uses a series of very detailed examples. As the majority of these examples are North American, I found the majority of them really hard to relate to. I’m not into American politics or sports and I don’t have a great interest in American business culture either (I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a full episode of The Simpsons!). I feel that the examples were much longer and much more detailed that necessary and that meant that by the time I got to the actual point, I wasn’t that interested. Something that we discussed at the book club was that, as well as being American, the majority of these examples are from privileged white heterosexual males. This book could have been a great opportunity to explore a whole range of examples and backgrounds, so it’s a disappointment that Grant chose not to.
When I reached the end of the book, there was a section which listed ‘Actions for Impact’, things you can do to apply the principles of the book to your life and work. Looking through the list, I noticed that my workplace already has the vast majority of these things in place, and I wonder if this could be partly why I couldn’t connect with the book so much. I’m thinking that perhaps I am already accustomed to some of these ways of working in my day to day life and therefore couldn’t find a way to connect.
I think the ideas in this book are good and it’s interesting to know that givers are ultimately more successful than takers, but I did find the book overall to be quite tedious and I probably wouldn’t recommend it for this reason. I can’t help but feel that the content of this book would have been better digested in a shorter format, such as an article or podcast.
Overall rating: Whilst I don’t think it’s revolutionary, I found the topic of “Give and Take” to be quite interesting and it sparked some really great discussion. The overall style wasn’t to my tastes though and I’d have preferred not to have had the lengthy, detailed examples that dragged this book out for me. I wouldn’t recommend it as a book, but won’t be ruling out the work of Adam Grant going forward, because I think the message is good, it’s the format that didn’t quite work – 2 stars for the book.

The book is full of stories of successful givers and tips on how to become a successful giver: look to sort out other people's problems and it will pay off (sometimes serendipitously), you will be better at HR decisions (you're not so determined to be right; you want what's best for other people and the organisation), you can be good at influencing (don't do this through a power play but through modesty - stammering can be helpful), and you can keep from burn-out through making sure you see the direct results of your giving and through 'chunking' it so it happens in big bursts and not through a drip feed of good actions. As to why some givers end up at the bottom of the heap, that's because they are 'selfless' rather than 'otherish' givers - that's to say, they don't set any boundaries and aren't good at asking for help for themselves. It's amazing just what people will do to help you - or others - if you ask them. And they'll be likely to go on helping once they start...
So far so good - and I certainly enjoyed reading this - it's persuasive and surprising.
If I felt less than 100% convinced, though, that's partly because Grant has so little to say about 'takers' (and yet he acknowledges they sometimes make the world go round - Michael Jordan is one example he quotes) - and on this, there are other books (Maccoby's book on narcissistic leaders, which points to the highs and lows of the taker in working life). It's also because he doesn't really go into what makes people 'takers' or 'givers' in the first place - is it a given or does it depend on what you learn in your family as you grow up about 'how we behave round here and what gets us what we want in this environment'?...Perhaps there will be a sequel..


