Givers and takers — what we can learn from Adam Grant about giving, taking and matching

Adam Grant is amazing. I listen to his podcast and read all of his books and I am completely enthralled by all of the content and writing that he produces. Whether it’s Originals and his story about passing up on Warby Parker in the very early stages or his TED talks, he speaks with such passion and enthusiasm.

I remember once he was talking about going to Google and they asked him as part of the discussions what he would recommend Google do differently based on what he has studied as an organizational psychologist. His reply was quite interesting: he said that rather than hire individuals, he recommended that Google hire (and fire) teams. It makes a lot of sense, we praise and respect the individual but in many cases, it’s more about the team of people with the individual. If the project fails, it rarely falls on one individual but rather a team of individuals that have failed. And when the project succeeds, again, it is the team of individuals that have succeeded.

I then had the privilege of listening to an audiobook version of Givers and Takers and the ideas inside really surprised me. Here are the things I learned from Adam Grant:

There are givers, takers and matchers