Business Development
Why giving makes us successful

Why giving makes us successful

I have always admired people who help others without thinking about their own profit – real altruists. Often I heard my family`s stories and a very special person has fascinated me over and over again, even if I had never the chance to get to know him. I am talking about my grandpa a very modest and altruistic person.

I heard how he settled with his family in a new city and how he started a new life from zero. He adapted very quickly and endeared himself to the countrymen. As soon as he heard that someone needed help he offered it without expecting something in exchange. After a short time everyone knew him and many just recognized him when his name was mentioned within a discussion. When he or his family had a problem someone was there without having asked for it. He was a human with real qualities of giving.

 

Later on when I was studying I got a confirmation of the beneficial effect of my grandfather`s behaviour from the research side. Research by Adam Grant, Professor for Organizational Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania analysed the effects of giving and taking in organizations and came to an interesting conclusion: Organisations contain three types of humans. On one hand there is a group of takers – Those are people who see only their own profit and seek unconscionably to reach their aims. The second group he describes as the matchers – Those help only persons within the organisation who once helped them. The third group is named the givers – They help others without having an own interest (just as my grandfather used to do). The clou result of Adam Grant`s research is: As expected there are a lot of takers in organisations` front positions but – givers are also in front position. Surprisingly, isn`t it? This is very unexpected.

 

If we consider the classical image of the giver we consider the research result a little bit paradoxical: Altruists or givers are only used by others and leave their own interests aside. How can the givers also be as competitive as takers in organisations? According to Adam Grant givers are first not noticed in the organisation that means they need time. Moreover only those givers assert themselves who help strategically:

  • they help only on specific time periods of the day
  •  so they have also time for their own stuff

By helping effectively they invest less effort but gain a lot of benefits namely they build a wide and deep network. Besides that by helping givers take power and energy for further helping actions, because they know when to say “stop“. They are known for their helpful attitude and other people perceive a lower inhibition threshold to ask them for help.

 

To put it briefly: Organisations are profiting if they cultivate and stimulate giving qualities of their workers.

Giving and not taking is the real key to success.

 

Literatur

  • Adam Grant, Geben und Nehmen. Erfolgreich sein zum Vorteil aller. Droemer-Verlag, München.

 

 

 

Do you know such persons? What does it mean to be successful? Please share some ideas in the comment field.

16 thoughts on “Why giving makes us successful

    • Author gravatar

      “Excellent weblog right here! Additionally your site a lot up very fast! What host are you the usage of? Can I get your associate hyperlink for your host? I wish my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol”

      • Author gravatar

        Hey,
        thanks for your comment! I guess it does not play an important role which host you choose. It is more important to choose a payed one, because then you benefit of better services. Moreover you should take care how many plugins you have already installed. They can also lower the loading speed of your site.

    • Author gravatar

      “It’s the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you some interesting things or advice. Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read even more things about it!”

    • Author gravatar

      Thank you for some other wonderful article.
      Where else may anybody get that kind of information in such
      an ideal means of writing? I’ve a presentation subsequent week,
      and I am on the search for such info.

      • Author gravatar

        Thanks for your question! Well if you like to find out more about the impact of giving and taking on own success please have a look at research of Adam Grant. He investigated this question in a more detailed manner. If not search further in the field of “prosocial behavior”. Hope this will help you for the preparation of your presentation.

    • Author gravatar

      I like the things you guys tend to be up too. This sort of clever work and
      exposure! Continue the superb works guys I’ve added you guys to my own, personal blogroll.

    • Author gravatar

      It’s really very complicated in this active life to listen news on TV, so
      I simply use web for your reason, and take the newest information.

    • Author gravatar

      I truly do believe every one of the concepts you might have offered within your post.
      They are very convincing and may definitely
      work. Still, the posts are too short for newbies. May you please extend them
      a lttle bit from subsequent time? Thanks to the post.

      • Author gravatar

        Thanks for your suggestion. Your tips are helping me to improve for future. Your opinion is important for me, because it helps me to get better in the way I address to my readers. Im am still at the beginning of blogging and it is challenge for me to find out how much information my readers need and wish to accumulate and in which direction to go.

    • Author gravatar

      Hello there, There’s without doubt that your web site could
      possibly be having browser compatibility issues. Whenever I evaluate
      your site in Safari, it looks fine but once opening in Internet Explorer,
      it’s got some overlapping issues. I simply planned to offer you a quick heads up!
      In addition to that, excellent website!

      • Author gravatar

        Thank you for your hint and for your appreciation! I do not know where the root of this problem lies to be able to give you an explanation. I use both browsers – Safari and Internet Explorer, because I have two different laptops and work on both.

    • Author gravatar

      We’re a group of volunteers and opening a fresh scheme in your community.
      Your site provided us with valuable info to function on. You
      possess done a formidable job and our whole community will be grateful for your needs.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.