WA - A Community of Givers
Are you a Giver? Or are you a Taker?
Most of us are something in between. But what does it matter?
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant has a lot to say about this in his recent TEDTalk.
According to his studies about 25% of us are Givers. The Givers are those of us who tend to think of others first. At home, a Giver might be the person who does more than their fair share of the housework, without complaint. At work Givers will help out a struggling co-worker by by taking up some of their workload, or just by spending a little extra time explaining a technique or a company policy.
Givers give.
We all know some Takers; Grant's studies suggest that they make up 19% of the population. Takers feel entitled. Takers may take undeserved credit at work. At home, Takers quietly eat the last of the ice cream without offering some to anyone else.
Takers take.
But Grant's study indicates that 56% of us, are what he calls "Matchers".
By this he means that most of us give some and we take some, we match what others do. If someone gives to us, we like to give back, but if someone takes, we tend to expect some consideration in return. Once a Matcher (or group of Matchers) recognize a Taker they will tend to lay down the law. Matchers are interested in fairness; they are not tolerant of Takers.
Here's what I found really interesting.
Givers are very very good for an organization (or a community). The larger group benefits from their helpfulness, but too often the givers' contributions go unnoticed (because true Givers are not in it for the credit).
On the other hand, Takers are live bad apples, they tend to spoil the whole bunch.
An organization will tend to take on a more giving culture if there are enough of Givers. Giving becomes infectious. But it takes just a few Takers to spoil things.
Matchers tend to follow the dominant culture. They will show more Taker characteristics if that's what they see in their leaders.
It hit me as I watched Adam Grant's TEDTalk.
What Kyle and Carson have managed to do is create a community that encourages a culture of GIVING. What a great opportunity we all have here at WA, to Give and Take, but with an emphasis on "paying it forward" our community (and each of us individually) are stronger.
There's more to it then this. I really hope that you take the time to check out the video (it'd less than 12 minutes long).
Watch this TEDTalk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grant_are_you_a_giv...
Learn more at:
Andrewjmat has posted another of my favorite TEDTalks. Check out his blog here:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/andrewjmat/blog/ted-talks-ideas-worth-spreading
Aloha & Mahalo,
Recent Comments
19
Giving with no reward will bring more to you than you realize my friend. Thanks for sharing!
I didn´t watch the video, but I do get the point. Giving is great and taking is trash, whereas matching is adaptive copy-catting.
Yes, that's basically the point I was making. But that's just to summarize one of Adam Grant's many points. I hope you find the time to watch it. It's both entertaining and informative (and only 12 minutes).
In that case I might just do so on my next ciggie break wich happens to be just about 12 minutes. Thanks, Joseph.
It was entertaining indeed. I´m not really surprised by his findings as these are supportive of what I´ve always thought.
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Really great stats Joe... thanks for sharing
Thanks for checking it out!