Adam Grant, 31 years old, is the youngest tenured, highest rated professor at Wharton. He teaches organizational management and has written a book entitled "Give and Take". He was featured in a March 27, 2013 New York Times article called "Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead," by Susan Dominus. The title implies a crafty form of giving. The goofy photos alongside the article, a ridiculous form of giving. If it were not for the recommendation of someone I admire, I would have passed on the 5000+ word article. I'm glad I did not.
According to Dominus, Grant is known for his generosity of spirit. His book divides people into Givers (give more than they take), Takers (take more than they give), and Matchers (look for an even swap). Grant, himself, is an uber-giver. He spends hours in his office helping individual students and writing 100+ letters of recommendation per year. Google considers him their go-to person to solve "big problems". He helps people he doesn't even know, both nationally and internationally, making himself available via phone or email. In addition to teaching and being of service to so many, he's "published more papers in his field’s top-tier journals than colleagues who have won lifetime-achievement awards" (Dominus), and is attentive to his wife and children.The article gives us insight into this extraordinary young man.
Dominus took pains to be sure the article was balanced, as she must. That's good journalism. There were questions about the real motives behind his generosity: What's wrong with someone who feels compelled to be helpful to so many? What in his childhood caused this tendency? Is he so insecure, does he so need to be liked, that he never says no? Why can't the rest of us be so generous with our time, and so productive, while working and attending to our families? Oh, his wife doesn't work outside the home, so, of course he has time for other pursuits while she takes care of everything else...
If one stays in that skeptical place, one is in grave danger of missing his magnificent message. As a coach for the past seven years, the single statement I've heard most often is "I want to be fulfilled in my work." Very simply put, Grant has observed that he gets a great feeling from giving. He finds being of service a super-motivator. He wonders if perhaps this super-motivator has been overlooked in the workplace. His mission is to study what's at work here to see how it might help people and organizations. He's already done several studies that show when employees are presented with clear evidence that their work has a positive impact on another person's life, they are motivated to succeed.
We can be skeptical or analytical of Grant's actions. We can debate whether extreme giving is even healthy. Or we can give giving a try. If we can find no real connection between the work we do and the client or consumer, then perhaps we can be of service to our co-workers, neighbors, spouses, strangers. If we're pressed for time, we can implement Grant's "five-minute-favor", a low-level investment for a high-level of satisfaction. We can give without any immediate guarantee that anything is in it for us, better yet, without any thought of what might be in it for us. We can positively impact someone else's life just for the good feeling it will give us, and trust the Universe to sort out the rest.
My fondest hope is that the research will support the notion of being of service to others as a motivator at work, and that that becomes our corporate culture. If we become a nation - a world - of Givers, I expect that all of us will be blessed beyond measure in the most unexpected ways.
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