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As economist Joseph Schumpeter famously observed, originality is an act of creative destruction. Advocating for new systems often requires demolishing the old way of doing things, and we hold back for fear of rocking the boat.
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Adam M. Grant |
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5cacd03
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Based on David Hornik's story, you might predict that givers achieve the worst results--and you'd be right. Research demonstrates that givers sink to the bottom of the success ladder. Across a wide range of important occupations, givers are at a disadvantage: they make others better off but sacrifice their own success in the process.
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Adam M. Grant |
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07240f8
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Although many successful givers start from the default of trusting others' intentions, they're also careful to scan their environments to screen for potential takers, always ready to shift from feeling a taker's emotions to analyzing a taker's thoughts, and flex from giving unconditionally to a more measured approach of generous tit for tat. And when they feel inclined to back down, successful givers are prepared to draw reserves of asserti..
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Adam M. Grant |
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0aeee72
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Now that you have a bit of respect, you value your standing in the group and don't want to jeopardize it. To maintain and then gain status, you play a game of follow-the-leader, conforming to prove your worth as a group member. As
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Adam M. Grant |
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Being a giver is not good for a 100-yard dash, but it's valuable in a marathon
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Adam M. Grant |
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a young Goldman Sachs banker named Joseph Park was sitting in his apartment, frustrated at the effort required to get access to entertainment. Why should he trek all the way to Blockbuster to rent a movie? He should just be able to open a website, pick out a movie, and have it delivered to his door. Despite raising around $250 million, Kozmo, the company Park founded, went bankrupt in 2001. His biggest mistake was making a brash promise for..
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Adam M. Grant |
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af2534b
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In 1927, Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik demonstrated that people have a better memory for incomplete than complete tasks. Once a task is finished, we stop thinking about it. But when it is interrupted and left undone, it stays active in our minds. As
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Adam M. Grant |
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8fb0036
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And in the long run, research shows that the mistakes we regret are not errors of commission, but errors of omission. If we could do things over, most of us would censor ourselves less and express our ideas more. That's
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Adam M. Grant |
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f39457c
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Along with providing time to generate novel ideas, procrastination has another benefit: it keeps us open to improvisation. When we plan well in advance, we often stick to the structure we've created, closing the door to creative possibilities that might spring into our fields of vision. Years
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Adam M. Grant |
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0b9db4c
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We assume that common goals bind groups together, but the reality is that they often drive groups apart. According to Dartmouth psychologist Judith White, a lens for understanding these fractures is the concept of horizontal hostility. Even though they share a fundamental objective, radical groups often disparage more mainstream groups as impostors and sellouts.
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Adam M. Grant |
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caddefb
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Taking is using other people solely for one's own gain. Receiving is accepting help from others while maintaining a willingness to pay it back and forward.
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Adam M. Grant |
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57e18c3
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This is the core challenge of speaking up with an original idea. When you present a new suggestion, you're not only hearing the tune in your head. You wrote the song. You've spent hours, days, weeks, months, or maybe even years thinking about the idea. You've contemplated the problem, formulated the solution, and rehearsed the vision. You know the lyrics and the melody of your idea by heart. By that point, it's no longer possible to imagine..
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Adam M. Grant |
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3702d33
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If you want a child to share a toy, instead of asking, "Will you share?" ask, "Will you be a sharer?"
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Adam M. Grant |
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dce0d29
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In a recent study comparing every Nobel Prize-winning scientist from 1901 to 2005 with typical scientists of the same era, both groups attained deep expertise in their respective fields of study. But the Nobel Prize winners were dramatically more likely to be involved in the arts than less accomplished scientists. Here's
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Adam M. Grant |
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7e6fd27
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The more experiments you run, the less constrained you become by your ideas from the past. You
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Adam M. Grant |
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a35de98
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givers always score high on other-interest, but they vary in self-interest. There are two types of givers, and they have dramatically different success rates. Selfless givers are people with high other-interest and low self-interest. They give their time and energy without regard for their own needs, and they pay a price for it. Selfless giving is a form of pathological altruism, which is defined by researcher Barbara Oakley as "an unhealth..
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Adam M. Grant |
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07be2ea
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Strong ties provide bonds, but weak ties serve as bridges: they provide more efficient access to new information. Our strong ties tend to travel in the same social circles and know about the same opportunities as we do. Weak ties are more likely to open up access to a different network, facilitating the discovery of original leads.
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Adam M. Grant |
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b462247
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All it took was having them spend their initial six minutes a little differently: instead of adopting a managerial mindset for evaluating ideas, they got into a creative mindset by generating ideas themselves. Just
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Adam M. Grant |
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3744ba1
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Some people, when they do someone a favor, are always looking for a chance to call it in. And some aren't, but they're still aware of it--still regard it as a debt. But others don't even do that. They're like a vine that produces grapes without looking for anything in return... after helping others... They just go on to something else... We should be like that. --Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor
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Adam M. Grant |
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421a0af
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Originality is not a fixed trait. It is a free choice. Lincoln wasn't born with an original personality. Taking on controversy wasn't programmed into his DNA; it was an act of conscious will. As the great thinker W. E. B. DuBois wrote, "He was one of you and yet he became Abraham Lincoln."
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Adam M. Grant |
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One of the keys to cultivating grit is making the task at hand more interesting and motivating.
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Adam M. Grant |
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Meyer summarizes his code of honor as "(1) Show up. (2) Work hard. (3) Be kind. (4) Take the high road." As he contributed in ways that revealed his skills without spawning jealousy, colleagues began to admire and trust his comedic genius. "People started to see him as somebody who wasn't just motivated personally," Tim Long explains. "You don't think of him as a competitor. He's someone you can think of on a higher plane, and can trust cre..
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Adam M. Grant |
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4350671
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Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." Scott Adams"
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Adam M. Grant |
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c651ef7
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I ask if you're planning to vote, you don't feel like I'm trying to influence you. It's an innocent query, and instead of resisting my influence, you reflect on it.
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Adam M. Grant |
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c264a9b
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When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.
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Adam M. Grant |
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aa8c504
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A giver might admit the mistake and move on,
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Adam M. Grant |
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Speak softly, but carry a big stick. --Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. president
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Adam M. Grant |
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I'd rather be defined by perseverance than by whether or not I passed an exam.
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Adam M. Grant |
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identify high-potential people, and then provide them with the mentoring, support, and resources needed to grow to achieve their potential.
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Adam M. Grant |
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The identification of talent may be the wrong place to start. For many years, psychologists believed that in any domain, success depended on talent first and motivation second.
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Adam M. Grant |
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Of course, natural talent also matters, but once you have a pool of candidates above the threshold of necessary potential, grit is a major factor that predicts how close they get to achieving their potential. This is why givers focus on gritty people: it's where givers have the greatest return on their investment, the most meaningful and lasting impact.
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Adam M. Grant |
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76a1778
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Conceptual innovators tend to generate original ideas early but risk copying themselves. The experimental approach takes longer, but proves more renewable: instead of reproducing our past ideas, experiments enable us to continue discovering new ones.
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Adam M. Grant |
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483d67f
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Justifying the default system serves a soothing function. It's an emotional painkiller: If the world is supposed to be this way, we don't need to be dissatisfied with it. But acquiescence also robs us of the moral outrage to stand against injustice and the creative will to consider alternative ways that the world could work.
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Adam M. Grant |
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Start the spark of reciprocity by making requests as well as helping others. Help generously and without thought of return; but also ask often for what you need.
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Adam M. Grant |
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Good givers are great getters; they make everybody better," Simmons explains." --
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Adam M. Grant |
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The opposite of a taker's powerful communication style is called powerless communication. Powerless communicators tend to speak less assertively, expressing plenty of doubt and relying heavily on advice from others. They talk in ways that signal vulnerability, revealing their weaknesses and making use of disclaimers, hedges, and hesitations.
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Adam M. Grant |
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1295faf
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Powerless communication had made all the difference. Instead of working to establish my credentials, I made myself vulnerable, and called out the elephant in the room.
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Adam M. Grant |
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96b055b
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In roles as leaders and mentors, givers resist the temptation to search for talent first. By recognizing that anyone can be a bloomer, givers focus their attention on motivation.
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Adam M. Grant |
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1717c55
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We tend to stereotype agreeable people as givers, and disagreeable people as takers. When a new contact appears affable, it's natural to conclude that he has good intentions. If he comes across as cold or confrontational, this seems like a sign that he doesn't care about what's in our best interests.*
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Adam M. Grant |
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c841797
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grit: having passion and perseverance toward long-term goals.
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Adam M. Grant |
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Empathy is a pervasive force behind giving behaviors, but it's also a major source of vulnerability.
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Adam M. Grant |
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Setting high expectations is so important," Skender says. "You have to push people, make them stretch and do more than they think possible."
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Adam M. Grant |
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45b2980
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giving was the only characteristic to predict performance: it didn't matter whether the salespeople were conscientious or carefree, extroverted or introverted, emotionally stable or anxious, and open-minded or traditional.
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Adam M. Grant |
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d670c6e
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powerless communication, marked by questions, is the defining quality of how givers sell.
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Adam M. Grant |