Give

I don't think that there can be a busier time to buy gifts than Christmas. I'm not sure about your best gift this Christmas, but I'm pretty certain that mine is Adam Grant's book Give and Take.

After going through the first two chapters of the book I borrowed from public library, I knew I should buy one as a gift for the Christmas party, and one for myself. From there, I started to learn about takers (who like to get more than they give), givers (who prefer to give more than they get) and matchers (who strive to preserve an equal balance of giving and getting).

Me, I've always been a giver. Too much of a giver some might say. There are often times when the social style of giver jeopardizes a leader's reputation. Such fear of being judged as a wimp, believe it or not, can push us to act like a taker, or at least a matcher.

Not until I've learned more about the meaning of a giver from Adam Grant. One of the best examples comes from a nationwide cohort of Belgian medical students. At first glance, students with the lowest grades had unusually high scores on giver statements like "I love to help others." Wait. Before we conclude that givers are more likely to land at the bottom of the success ladder, a closer look at the data shows that it was only the first year of medical school when givers underperformed.

By the sixth year, the givers had much better grades than their peers.

By the seventh year, when the givers became doctors, they had climbed even higher and ahead.

Phew!