Global Leadership Summit 2015 Session 3: Adam Grant

• What causes paranoia in organizations? 
• What does it take to own a face like this (baby emoji pic)?
• “There are only two types of people in the world: those who divide the world into two categories and those who don’t.”

Takers, Givers & Matchers

• Takers – you think of every interaction as an opportunity to get something from everyone without giving anything
• Givers – help others, often with no strings attached; provide mentoring. It’s the easiest way to make a difference. We often reserve giving for family and friends
• Matchers – even balance of good and take, quid pro quo
• What’s your style (the way you treat most of the people most of the time)?
• Narcissists are one type of taker. Another type of taker is a person who used to be a giver or matcher and got burned one too many times. Third type of taker is the pyschopath.

Which Style Sinks to the Bottom?

• Engineers, medical students, sales people measured to see what style performed the best.
• Givers are the worst performers.
• What is the cost of generosity in sales? If I can be 100% candid, I care so much about our customers that I would never sell them one of our crappy products.
• Many of us wander around thinking we’re givers while we act like takers.
• In groups, givers thrive. They’re willing to do what it takes for others to thrive.

Who Rises to the Top?

• Takers are not the best performers. They rise quickly, but they fall quickly to the hand of the takers.
• Matchers serve as the karma police. If you’re a matcher, there is nothing you hate more than seeing a taker taking.
• Most matchers use the ancient deadly weapon: gossip. They tell others about the takers.
• Other takers hate to see takers succeed. The people who blow the whistle the loudest are often takers. Example: baseball and professional cycling.
• Data shows that the best results belong to givers.  Givers are over represented in both extremes.
• Givers fail in the short run but succeed in the long term.
• Cinnabon’s Kat Cole story
• If you want a culture of givers, what type of people should you hire? The negative impact of a taker is double or triple the positive impact of a giver.
• One bad apple spreads, but one good egg does not make a dozen.
• Effective hiring is not about bringing in the givers, it is about weeding out the takers. In the presence of givers, matchers become givers too.
• IKEA hiring cartoon
• There are disagreeable givers in our midst. They challenge the status quo. They ask tough questions. They have a bad user interface but a great operating system.
• There are agreeable takers, also known as the faker. Canada has the highest agreeable score. “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.”
• Just because someone is nice to you, does not mean that they actually care about you.

Spotting a Taker

• They will use more “me” in failures than success.
• What percentage do people in your industry take at least $10?  The higher the estimate that people are thieves, the greater the likelihood that they are thieves.
• Takers anticipate more selfish behavior among others. Its how they justify their taking.

Redefine Giving

• The most powerful connector on LinkedIn. His name is Adam Rifkin. He’s been pretty successful. He retired in his 30s. He’s an extreme giver. He bought a non-profit network to help people get their businesses off the ground. “In the end only kindness matters.”
• “If you want to be a successful giver, don’t try and be Mother Theresa or Gandhi. Do more 5 minute favors.” – Adam Rifkin
• Once you hit 100 hours of volunteering a year, that’s the sweet spot. Are you doing enough giving?

Encourage Help-Seeking

• If no one asks for help, how cna any body help?
• The Reciprocity Ring
• Takers become more generous because all the help is out in the public.
• If you can do this right, you can redefine success. Paranoia will melt away. Instead pronoia will develop.