In Episode Two, I introduce you to an idea brought to my attention by the author Adam Grant, who authored the book, Give and Take. Adam Grant and his team conducted a study of workplaces to see who the most successful people were in an office setting. What he found was that the people at the bottom were the givers. These were the people who had a volunteer’s heart, who put everyone else’s success ahead of their own. The givers were the foundation of the company, but they were never looking out for themselves. Grant then identified the takers. These were the people that were only looking out for themselves; any opportunity they got, they would take. Grant found that taking is not the recipe for success.

Grant’s team then found the matchers, who, experienced a lot of success. The matchers would say, “Hey, if you’re willing to make an effort for me, I’m willing to make an effort for you.” They would reinvest in good relationships where they could get something back from someone else. There was a lot of quid pro quo, which essentially means unless you do something for me, I have no incentive to do something for you.

The main question Grant asked was what differentiated the givers at the top of the company from the givers at the bottom. They found that the givers at the top are givers who are other-ish. Being other-ish means that you put everyone else first without the negative self-sacrifice. The best way to do this is to believe in the phrase, “success does not have to come at anyone’s expense.” Whether it is spiritually relationally, physically, or financially, we can give to others without sacrificing ourselves because we find things that we enjoy doing.

We can be a solid figure in an institution while giving and supporting everyone else around us. One final point is that you must have your cup full before becoming other-ish. At a minimum, your cup must be filling up before you pour out of it. You cannot pour from an empty cup. So, make sure that whatever is filling your cup is filling it up faster than you are pouring out from it. Thank you for reading episode two of season two of BlankScreen. Check us out on YouTube. We will see you in the next episode!