Are you a giver or a taker? | Adam Grant

Summary

In this engaging talk, the speaker explores the dynamics of 'givers' and 'takers' in the workplace, revealing that while givers often struggle with performance due to their self-sacrificing nature, they significantly contribute to the overall success of organizations. The speaker emphasizes the importance of nurturing a culture that supports givers, encourages help-seeking, and strategically hires to exclude takers. By doing so, organizations can foster a productive environment where givers thrive, ultimately redefining success as contribution rather than competition.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker, an organizational psychologist, discusses 'takers' and 'givers' in the workplace, emphasizing that 'takers' are self-serving while 'givers' prioritize helping others.
• 🔍 The speaker introduces a 'Narcissist Test' as a humorous self-assessment for the audience to determine if they are more of a 'giver' or a 'taker'.
• 📊 A survey of over 30,000 people across industries and cultures revealed that most people fall in the middle as 'matchers', striving to maintain a balance between giving and taking.
• 📉 Contrary to expectations, the speaker's research found that 'givers' often underperform in various roles due to spending too much time helping others at the expense of their own tasks.
• 👍 Despite being the worst performers individually, 'givers' contribute significantly to the overall success of organizations by fostering a culture of helping and sharing.
• 🚀 The best performers in various roles are not 'takers' but again 'givers', who are found to be overrepresented at both the bottom and top of success metrics.
• 🛡️ To create a successful culture for 'givers', the speaker suggests protecting them from burnout by setting boundaries and promoting 'five-minute favors' to add value to others' lives.
• 🤝 Building a culture where help-seeking is the norm is crucial for the success of 'givers', as it encourages a reciprocal environment where people feel comfortable asking for and offering help.
• 👀 The speaker advises that careful hiring practices are essential to ensure a team's success, with the focus on weeding out 'takers' rather than just bringing in 'givers'.
• 🔎 The agreeableness trait can be misleading when identifying 'givers' and 'takers', as there is no direct correlation between being agreeable and being a giver.
• 🌟 The speaker concludes by advocating for a world where 'givers' succeed, fostering a culture of contribution and support, which can turn 'paranoia' into 'pronoia'.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the talk?

The main theme of the talk is the impact of different interpersonal styles, particularly 'givers', 'takers', and 'matchers', on individual performance and organizational success.

Who are 'takers' as described in the script?

'Takers' are individuals who are self-serving in their interactions, focusing on what others can do for them rather than what they can do for others.

What is the opposite of a 'taker'?

The opposite of a 'taker' is a 'giver', someone who approaches interactions by asking 'What can I do for you?' and focuses on helping others.

What is the 'Narcissist Test' mentioned in the script?

The 'Narcissist Test' is a humorous two-step test that the speaker uses to illustrate the audience's self-awareness, with the punchline being that reaching Step 2 indicates you are not a narcissist.

What is the 'matcher' style in terms of interpersonal interactions?

A 'matcher' is someone who tries to keep an even balance of give and take, operating on the principle of 'quid pro quo', doing something for someone if they do something in return.

What did the speaker find when surveying over 30,000 people across industries and cultures?

The speaker found that most people fall in the middle between giving and taking, adopting the 'matcher' style, which suggests a balanced approach to interpersonal interactions.

Why did the speaker conduct a survey across different industries and cultures?

The speaker conducted the survey to understand the prevalence and impact of different interpersonal styles, specifically 'givers', 'takers', and 'matchers', on performance and success in various contexts.

What was the unexpected finding regarding the performance of 'givers' in various roles?

The unexpected finding was that 'givers' were the worst performers in various roles such as engineers, medical students, and salespeople, often because they were too busy helping others to complete their own work.

How do 'givers' impact an organization according to the speaker's research?

According to the speaker's research, 'givers' often make their organizations better by contributing to a culture of helping, sharing knowledge, and providing mentoring, which leads to improved organizational metrics such as profits, customer satisfaction, and employee retention.

What is the speaker's conclusion about who the best performers are in various roles?

The speaker concludes that the best performers are again the 'givers', despite their tendency to also be overrepresented at the bottom of success metrics, indicating that they have the potential for both high success and self-sacrifice.

What are some strategies the speaker suggests to build cultures where 'givers' can succeed?

The speaker suggests recognizing and protecting 'givers', fostering a culture where help-seeking is the norm, and being thoughtful about team composition to ensure that 'takers' are weeded out.

Why is it important to protect 'givers' from burnout according to the speaker?

It is important to protect 'givers' from burnout because they are valuable contributors to the organization's success, and without proper boundaries, they may exhaust themselves trying to help others at the expense of their own well-being and performance.

What is the significance of the 'five-minute favor' concept mentioned by the speaker?

The 'five-minute favor' concept signifies that small acts of giving can have a significant impact on others' lives without requiring a large commitment of time or resources. It's a way for 'givers' to maintain their generosity while setting boundaries to prevent burnout.

What personality trait can be misleading when trying to identify 'takers'?

The personality trait of 'agreeableness' can be misleading when trying to identify 'takers' because agreeable people are often perceived as warm, friendly, and nice, which can mask their self-serving tendencies.

How can organizations encourage a culture of successful 'givers'?

Organizations can encourage a culture of successful 'givers' by hiring and screening to exclude 'takers', promoting a culture where help-seeking is normal, protecting 'givers' from burnout, and allowing them to be ambitious in pursuing their own goals alongside helping others.

What is the term for the belief that others are plotting your well-being?

The term for the belief that others are plotting your well-being is 'pronoia', which the speaker contrasts with 'paranoia' and suggests as a positive outcome of a culture of 'givers'.

What is the speaker's vision for a world where 'givers' succeed?

The speaker's vision for a world where 'givers' succeed is one where people redefine success as contribution rather than competition, and where helping others to succeed becomes the most meaningful way to achieve personal success.

Outlines

00:00

🕵️‍♂️ Understanding Givers and Takers in the Workplace

The speaker, an organizational psychologist, introduces the concepts of 'givers' and 'takers' in the workplace. Givers are individuals who prioritize helping others, often at the expense of their own needs, while takers are self-serving and focused on personal gain. The speaker challenges the audience to consider their own tendencies through a humorous self-assessment test. The talk delves into the prevalence of these behaviors, revealing that most people fall somewhere in the middle as 'matchers,' seeking a balanced exchange of favors. However, the speaker's research shows that givers often underperform in various professional settings due to their tendency to prioritize others' needs over their own responsibilities.

05:02

🌟 The Paradox of Givers and Success

This section explores the paradox that while givers may be the worst performers in certain roles due to their self-sacrificing nature, they also contribute significantly to the overall success of organizations. The speaker discusses the importance of creating a culture that supports and protects givers, ensuring they don't burn out from their generous tendencies. The talk highlights the role of Adam Rifkin, a successful entrepreneur, who exemplifies the concept of the 'five-minute favor' as a way for givers to maintain boundaries and contribute effectively. The speaker also emphasizes the need for a culture that encourages help-seeking, as it can lead to a more engaged and supportive work environment.

10:04

🤔 Strategies for Cultivating a Culture of Givers

The speaker outlines strategies for creating a successful culture of givers. This includes recognizing the value of givers, protecting them from burnout, and fostering an environment where help-seeking is the norm. The talk also addresses the importance of thoughtful hiring practices to ensure that teams are composed of givers and matchers, rather than takers, who can have a detrimental impact on the group's dynamics. The speaker debunks common misconceptions about agreeableness and giving, explaining that these traits do not always align and that organizations should be wary of 'agreeable takers' who may appear friendly but act self-servingly. The goal is to create a culture where success is defined by contribution and helping others succeed, fostering a sense of 'pronoia' where people believe that others are genuinely looking out for their well-being.

Keywords

💡Paranoia

Paranoia refers to an irrational feeling of fear or suspicion, often characterized by a belief that others are plotting against oneself. In the video's context, it is associated with the negative impact of 'takers' in a workplace environment, who are individuals that are self-serving and can cause others to feel paranoid due to their manipulative behaviors. The speaker mentions that organizational paranoia is widespread and can be detrimental to a healthy work culture.

💡Takers

Takers are individuals who are self-serving and primarily focused on their own interests, often at the expense of others. They are characterized by an interaction style that revolves around what others can do for them. In the video, the speaker discusses how takers can create a sense of paranoia and are contrasted with 'givers', who are more focused on contributing to others' success.

💡Givers

Givers are people who approach interactions with a mindset of helping others, often asking 'What can I do for you?' They are willing to give more than they take and are generally more altruistic. The video discusses how givers can sometimes be exploited but are essential for creating a positive and productive organizational culture, despite facing challenges such as burnout.

💡Matchers

Matchers are individuals who strive to maintain a balance between giving and taking, adhering to a quid pro quo approach to interactions. They are cautious about not being taken advantage of and aim to ensure fairness in their dealings. The speaker highlights that most people fall into this category, and while they may not be the worst performers, they are not the best either.

💡Productivity

Productivity refers to the efficiency with which work is done and goals are achieved. In the video, the speaker uses productivity as a metric to evaluate the performance of different types of individuals in various roles, such as engineers and medical students. It is revealed that givers, despite sometimes being the worst performers due to burnout, can also be the best performers when supported correctly.

💡Burnout

Burnout is a state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion, often caused by excessive and prolonged stress. In the context of the video, burnout is a risk for givers who may overextend themselves in trying to help others, leading to a decline in their own well-being and performance. The speaker emphasizes the importance of protecting givers from burnout to ensure their continued success and contribution.

💡Help-seeking

Help-seeking is the act of requesting assistance from others. The video discusses the importance of creating a culture where help-seeking is normalized and encouraged, as it not only supports the success and well-being of givers but also fosters a collaborative environment where more people are willing to contribute.

💡Agreeableness

Agreeableness is a personality trait characterized by being warm, friendly, and cooperative. In the video, the speaker explains that agreeableness can be misleading when trying to identify givers and takers, as agreeable people are not necessarily givers and disagreeable people are not necessarily takers. It's an important concept in understanding the nuances of interpersonal dynamics.

💡Disagreeable Givers

Disagreeable givers are individuals who may come across as tough or gruff but are genuinely interested in the well-being of others. They are often undervalued because their exterior demeanor can be off-putting, but they provide critical feedback that is essential for growth. The video emphasizes the importance of recognizing and valuing disagreeable givers for their contributions.

💡Pronoia

Pronoia is the opposite of paranoia and refers to the belief that others are conspiring to one's advantage. In the video, the speaker uses pronoia to describe a positive and supportive culture where people genuinely care for each other's well-being and success. The goal is to create a world where givers thrive and success is defined by contribution rather than competition.

💡Five-minute favor

The concept of a 'five-minute favor' is introduced as a strategy for givers to add value to others' lives without overextending themselves. It's a way for givers to set boundaries and protect themselves from burnout, by performing small acts of kindness that are meaningful yet manageable. Examples include making introductions or sharing knowledge, which can have a significant impact in just a few minutes.

Highlights

The speaker identifies 'takers' as individuals who are self-serving in their interactions, focusing on what others can do for them.

Givers approach interactions by asking 'What can I do for you?', contrasting with the taker mentality.

The concept of 'matching' is introduced, where individuals aim to keep an even balance of giving and taking.

The speaker's research across industries and cultures shows most people fall between being givers and takers, adopting a matching style.

Givers are found to be the worst performers in certain roles due to spending too much time on others' tasks at the expense of their own.

Contrary to expectations, givers also tend to be the best performers in various roles, despite initial setbacks.

The importance of protecting givers from burnout is emphasized, as they are valuable to organizational success.

Adam Rifkin's 'five-minute favor' concept is shared as a way for givers to help others without overextending themselves.

Creating a culture where help-seeking is the norm can lead to more effective teamwork and success for givers.

The negative impact of a taker on a culture is significantly greater than the positive impact of a giver.

Hiring practices should focus on identifying and excluding takers rather than simply adding more givers to a team.

The distinction between agreeable givers, disagreeable takers, disagreeable givers, and agreeable takers is discussed to better understand team dynamics.

Disagreeable givers, though often undervalued, provide critical feedback that benefits the organization.

The concept of 'pronoia' is introduced as the positive counterpart to paranoia, where one believes others are actively working for their well-being.

The speaker advocates for a world where givers succeed, suggesting that success is more about contribution than competition.

The talk concludes with a call to action for the audience to help create a world where givers can thrive and succeed.

Transcripts

Translator: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer: Camille Martínez

I want you to look around the room for a minute

and try to find the most paranoid person here --

(Laughter)

And then I want you to point at that person for me.

(Laughter)

OK, don't actually do it.

(Laughter)

But, as an organizational psychologist,

I spend a lot of time in workplaces,

and I find paranoia everywhere.

Paranoia is caused by people that I call "takers."

Takers are self-serving in their interactions.

It's all about what can you do for me.

The opposite is a giver.

It's somebody who approaches most interactions by asking,

"What can I do for you?"

I wanted to give you a chance to think about your own style.

We all have moments of giving and taking.

Your style is how you treat most of the people most of the time,

your default.

I have a short test you can take

to figure out if you're more of a giver or a taker,

and you can take it right now.

[The Narcissist Test]

[Step 1: Take a moment to think about yourself.]

(Laughter)

[Step 2: If you made it to Step 2, you are not a narcissist.]

(Laughter)

This is the only thing I will say today that has no data behind it,

but I am convinced the longer it takes for you to laugh at this cartoon,

the more worried we should be that you're a taker.

(Laughter)

Of course, not all takers are narcissists.

Some are just givers who got burned one too many times.

Then there's another kind of taker that we won't be addressing today,

and that's called a psychopath.

(Laughter)

I was curious, though, about how common these extremes are,

and so I surveyed over 30,000 people across industries

around the world's cultures.

And I found that most people are right in the middle

between giving and taking.

They choose this third style called "matching."

If you're a matcher, you try to keep an even balance of give and take:

quid pro quo -- I'll do something for you if you do something for me.

And that seems like a safe way to live your life.

But is it the most effective and productive way to live your life?

The answer to that question is a very definitive ...

maybe.

(Laughter)

I studied dozens of organizations,

thousands of people.

I had engineers measuring their productivity.

(Laughter)

I looked at medical students' grades --

even salespeople's revenue.

(Laughter)

And, unexpectedly,

the worst performers in each of these jobs were the givers.

The engineers who got the least work done

were the ones who did more favors than they got back.

They were so busy doing other people's jobs,

they literally ran out of time and energy to get their own work completed.

In medical school, the lowest grades belong to the students

who agree most strongly with statements like,

"I love helping others,"

which suggests the doctor you ought to trust

is the one who came to med school with no desire to help anybody.

(Laughter)

And then in sales, too, the lowest revenue accrued

in the most generous salespeople.

I actually reached out to one of those salespeople

who had a very high giver score.

And I asked him, "Why do you suck at your job --"

I didn't ask it that way, but --

(Laughter)

"What's the cost of generosity in sales?"

And he said, "Well, I just care so deeply about my customers

that I would never sell them one of our crappy products."

(Laughter)

So just out of curiosity,

how many of you self-identify more as givers than takers or matchers?

Raise your hands.

OK, it would have been more before we talked about these data.

But actually, it turns out there's a twist here,

because givers are often sacrificing themselves,

but they make their organizations better.

We have a huge body of evidence --

many, many studies looking at the frequency of giving behavior

that exists in a team or an organization --

and the more often people are helping and sharing their knowledge

and providing mentoring,

the better organizations do on every metric we can measure:

higher profits, customer satisfaction, employee retention --

even lower operating expenses.

So givers spend a lot of time trying to help other people

and improve the team,

and then, unfortunately, they suffer along the way.

I want to talk about what it takes

to build cultures where givers actually get to succeed.

So I wondered, then, if givers are the worst performers,

who are the best performers?

Let me start with the good news: it's not the takers.

Takers tend to rise quickly but also fall quickly in most jobs.

And they fall at the hands of matchers.

If you're a matcher, you believe in "An eye for an eye" -- a just world.

And so when you meet a taker,

you feel like it's your mission in life

to just punish the hell out of that person.

(Laughter)

And that way justice gets served.

Well, most people are matchers.

And that means if you're a taker,

it tends to catch up with you eventually;

what goes around will come around.

And so the logical conclusion is:

it must be the matchers who are the best performers.

But they're not.

In every job, in every organization I've ever studied,

the best results belong to the givers again.

Take a look at some data I gathered from hundreds of salespeople,

tracking their revenue.

What you can see is that the givers go to both extremes.

They make up the majority of people who bring in the lowest revenue,

but also the highest revenue.

The same patterns were true for engineers' productivity

and medical students' grades.

Givers are overrepresented at the bottom and at the top

of every success metric that I can track.

Which raises the question:

How do we create a world where more of these givers get to excel?

I want to talk about how to do that, not just in businesses,

but also in nonprofits, schools --

even governments.

Are you ready?

(Cheers)

I was going to do it anyway, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.

(Laughter)

The first thing that's really critical

is to recognize that givers are your most valuable people,

but if they're not careful, they burn out.

So you have to protect the givers in your midst.

And I learned a great lesson about this from Fortune's best networker.

It's the guy, not the cat.

(Laughter)

His name is Adam Rifkin.

He's a very successful serial entrepreneur

who spends a huge amount of his time helping other people.

And his secret weapon is the five-minute favor.

Adam said, "You don't have to be Mother Teresa or Gandhi

to be a giver.

You just have to find small ways to add large value

to other people's lives."

That could be as simple as making an introduction

between two people who could benefit from knowing each other.

It could be sharing your knowledge or giving a little bit of feedback.

Or It might be even something as basic as saying,

"You know,

I'm going to try and figure out

if I can recognize somebody whose work has gone unnoticed."

And those five-minute favors are really critical

to helping givers set boundaries and protect themselves.

The second thing that matters

if you want to build a culture where givers succeed,

is you actually need a culture where help-seeking is the norm;

where people ask a lot.

This may hit a little too close to home for some of you.

[So in all your relationships, you always have to be the giver?]

(Laughter)

What you see with successful givers

is they recognize that it's OK to be a receiver, too.

If you run an organization, we can actually make this easier.

We can make it easier for people to ask for help.

A couple colleagues and I studied hospitals.

We found that on certain floors, nurses did a lot of help-seeking,

and on other floors, they did very little of it.

The factor that stood out on the floors where help-seeking was common,

where it was the norm,

was there was just one nurse whose sole job it was

to help other nurses on the unit.

When that role was available,

nurses said, "It's not embarrassing, it's not vulnerable to ask for help --

it's actually encouraged."

Help-seeking isn't important just for protecting the success

and the well-being of givers.

It's also critical to getting more people to act like givers,

because the data say

that somewhere between 75 and 90 percent of all giving in organizations

starts with a request.

But a lot of people don't ask.

They don't want to look incompetent,

they don't know where to turn, they don't want to burden others.

Yet if nobody ever asks for help,

you have a lot of frustrated givers in your organization

who would love to step up and contribute,

if they only knew who could benefit and how.

But I think the most important thing,

if you want to build a culture of successful givers,

is to be thoughtful about who you let onto your team.

I figured, you want a culture of productive generosity,

you should hire a bunch of givers.

But I was surprised to discover, actually, that that was not right --

that the negative impact of a taker on a culture

is usually double to triple the positive impact of a giver.

Think about it this way:

one bad apple can spoil a barrel,

but one good egg just does not make a dozen.

I don't know what that means --

(Laughter)

But I hope you do.

No -- let even one taker into a team,

and you will see that the givers will stop helping.

They'll say, "I'm surrounded by a bunch of snakes and sharks.

Why should I contribute?"

Whereas if you let one giver into a team,

you don't get an explosion of generosity.

More often, people are like,

"Great! That person can do all our work."

So, effective hiring and screening and team building

is not about bringing in the givers;

it's about weeding out the takers.

If you can do that well,

you'll be left with givers and matchers.

The givers will be generous

because they don't have to worry about the consequences.

And the beauty of the matchers is that they follow the norm.

So how do you catch a taker before it's too late?

We're actually pretty bad at figuring out who's a taker,

especially on first impressions.

There's a personality trait that throws us off.

It's called agreeableness,

one the major dimensions of personality across cultures.

Agreeable people are warm and friendly, they're nice, they're polite.

You find a lot of them in Canada --

(Laughter)

Where there was actually a national contest

to come up with a new Canadian slogan and fill in the blank,

"As Canadian as ..."

I thought the winning entry was going to be,

"As Canadian as maple syrup," or, "... ice hockey."

But no, Canadians voted for their new national slogan to be --

I kid you not --

"As Canadian as possible under the circumstances."

(Laughter)

Now for those of you who are highly agreeable,

or maybe slightly Canadian,

you get this right away.

How could I ever say I'm any one thing

when I'm constantly adapting to try to please other people?

Disagreeable people do less of it.

They're more critical, skeptical, challenging,

and far more likely than their peers to go to law school.

(Laughter)

That's not a joke, that's actually an empirical fact.

(Laughter)

So I always assumed that agreeable people were givers

and disagreeable people were takers.

But then I gathered the data,

and I was stunned to find no correlation between those traits,

because it turns out that agreeableness-disagreeableness

is your outer veneer:

How pleasant is it to interact with you?

Whereas giving and taking are more of your inner motives:

What are your values? What are your intentions toward others?

If you really want to judge people accurately,

you have to get to the moment every consultant in the room is waiting for,

and draw a two-by-two.

(Laughter)

The agreeable givers are easy to spot:

they say yes to everything.

The disagreeable takers are also recognized quickly,

although you might call them by a slightly different name.

(Laughter)

We forget about the other two combinations.

There are disagreeable givers in our organizations.

There are people who are gruff and tough on the surface

but underneath have others' best interests at heart.

Or as an engineer put it,

"Oh, disagreeable givers --

like somebody with a bad user interface but a great operating system."

(Laughter)

If that helps you.

(Laughter)

Disagreeable givers are the most undervalued people in our organizations,

because they're the ones who give the critical feedback

that no one wants to hear but everyone needs to hear.

We need to do a much better job valuing these people

as opposed to writing them off early,

and saying, "Eh, kind of prickly,

must be a selfish taker."

The other combination we forget about is the deadly one --

the agreeable taker, also known as the faker.

This is the person who's nice to your face,

and then will stab you right in the back.

(Laughter)

And my favorite way to catch these people in the interview process

is to ask the question,

"Can you give me the names of four people

whose careers you have fundamentally improved?"

The takers will give you four names,

and they will all be more influential than them,

because takers are great at kissing up and then kicking down.

Givers are more likely to name people who are below them in a hierarchy,

who don't have as much power,

who can do them no good.

And let's face it, you all know you can learn a lot about character

by watching how someone treats their restaurant server

or their Uber driver.

So if we do all this well,

if we can weed takers out of organizations,

if we can make it safe to ask for help,

if we can protect givers from burnout

and make it OK for them to be ambitious in pursuing their own goals

as well as trying to help other people,

we can actually change the way that people define success.

Instead of saying it's all about winning a competition,

people will realize success is really more about contribution.

I believe that the most meaningful way to succeed

is to help other people succeed.

And if we can spread that belief,

we can actually turn paranoia upside down.

There's a name for that.

It's called "pronoia."

Pronoia is the delusional belief

that other people are plotting your well-being.

(Laughter)

That they're going around behind your back

and saying exceptionally glowing things about you.

The great thing about a culture of givers is that's not a delusion --

it's reality.

I want to live in a world where givers succeed,

and I hope you will help me create that world.

Thank you.

(Applause)