On Monday 15th May 2023 PropelHer’s Book Club discussed Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant.
In this summary of Give and Take by Adam Grant, I’ll be briefly summarising the book to help you to make a decision about whether you should buy a copy of the book for yourself.
The book starts by delving deeper into givers, takers, and matchers. Through his research, Adam discovered that “the worst performances and the best performers are givers; takers and matchers are more likely to land in the middle”. It is this research that has led to looking at why some givers end up at the top and some at the bottom. The purpose of the book is to help show givers what they should and shouldn’t do in order to end up as a best performance, rather than a worst performer.
Chapter 2,3 and 4 explore how the different types of people (givers, takers and matchers) approach networking, collaboration and recognising potential. You’ll discover who the most connected person on LinkedIn was in 2011 (and I bet you have no idea who they are), as well as learning about what type of ties and activity make for a strong network. You’ll learn about the unknown man at the heart of creating The Simpsons and how our success really does rely on working with others. Then you’ll learn about stopping talent, nurturing talent and learning when to walk away from a decision you’ve made.
Influencing people is key to success and in Chapter 5 you’ll learn about how to do that through dominance and / or prestige. Then in Chapter 6 Adam delves deeper into one of the things many givers suffer from burn out. You’ll learn about how to give in a way that allows you to help others whilst not having a detrimental effect on yourself. Then in Chapter 7 you’ll learn about how to ensure you aren’t a doormat that is walked over. Adam shares three major traps that givers need to avoid.
In Chapter 8 Adam explores Freecycle and Craiglist in relation to three different types of people and the reason for using the site. You’ll then also learn about how having a common ground impact giving behaviour and the power of your name.
The final chapter, Chapter 9, shows how givers can be true to themselves but still succeed in work. It talks about the fine line between giving and clever matching, and how you can walk that line in order to succeed.
That’s it! You now have an idea about what you can expect to find inside of Give and Take by Adam Grant.
Like the sound of Give and Take? Why not buy a copy of the book and have a read?
Give and Take by Adam Grant was read as part of PropelHer’s Book Club. PropelHer’s Book Club is an online non-fiction book club for ambitious women that meet monthly. Every month PropelHer’s Book Club reads a different book to help ambitious women concentrate on their personal development and professional success. You can see what else we have read so far here. If you would like to join PropelHer’s Book Club you can find full details here.
And don’t forget to share your book pictures! Tag @Propelherorg.
