Envisia Learning

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: The Joys and Frustrations of Giving

Competencies: self-development, managing self, achievement orientation, leadership

Who benefits: all readers

Consultant Usage: much of this book addresses issues of networking … which is the life blood of external consultants and of some importance to internal consultants

What’s it about? This week and next I shall review two new books about Money (with a big M) … but not using traditional definitions. I will be upfront with you. Today’s book is very good and I urge you to get a hold of it and read it. But next week’s book is exceptional and an absolute must read. So IF you have to choose ….

Today’s book is Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success. It is written by Adam Grant, an extraordinarily popular professor in organization psychology at Wharton (University of Pennsylvania). Students line up for hours preceding his office hours. He’s the Pop-Star Professor.

Before telling you a little about the book, let me tell you a little about the context. First, I am actually writing the review the day of its release (April 9, 2013). It is already a best seller. It is #1, #2, #3 in in three Amazon categories. People can’t wait for this book and there is a good reason why (see review below). It addition, the book is being endorsed by Who’s Who in the fields of leadership, motivation (if that is a field) and economics. Those whom I highly admire who have given their enthusiastic endorsement include Bob Sutton (leadership), Daniel Pink (motivation) and Dan Ariely (behavioral economics). The list is much longer.

Now about the book: It is a book centered on reciprocity. Grant divides us all into three very different kinds of people (1) Givers, (2) Matchers, and (3) Takers.

Givers give without expectations. They are never too busy to help others. They give without expectations of immediate gains. They share credit and mentor freely.

Matchers keep score. They give when they see they can get something back that matches in value what they have given. Hope you won’t feel insulted, but most of us fall into the Matcher category.

Takers, well you know them. They are easy to spot. They operate from “What’s in it for me” (WIIFM). They play win-lose. They devote considerable time and effort in managing up … and are extremely protective of their territory.

Now here is what makes the book really interesting. Who among these three are the most successful? The answer is a split decision with Givers occupying both ends of the Success Spectrum. Givers tend to end up as burned-out doormats or star leaders.

The book proceeds to focuses on the star leaders. What does giving have to do with leadership? Apparently a lot. Star Givers balance concern for others with self-interest. They are strategic in their giving. They give strategically to other Givers and to Matchers and avoid the Takers. They give in ways that create strong social relationships, bonds, and loyalty. They serve as inspiration to others. People want to perform well for Star Givers.

I think the early sales success of the book is because so many of us have something within ourselves to give to others, but haven’t focused on it and don’t really know how. This book tells you how.

If you don’t have time for the book or would like to know more about Adam Grant the person and how he personally finds time to walk-the-talk, there is a terrific article in the New York Times Magazine called Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead? On the left hand side of the article, a few paragraphs down, is a 4 minute video interview with Adam Grant that is a good summary (you can avoid the main nonsensical video at the top of the page).

Or you can find more at his website GiveAndTake.com including his latest videos , a just published Harvard Business Review article and other recent articles, and a survey to find out which of these three categories is you!

Catch you later.

As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.

Quote of the Week: “It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”  John Steinbeck  

Humor Break:

Bev: Al, do you think it pays to be honest?

Al: Doesn’t seem to pay enough for some people.

Stat of the Week: Six months ago I reviewed Dan Ariely’s book The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves.  It was in a post I called You Cheat – Honest! .  Well this week I was rereading some of his work from an earlier book (Predictably Irrational) and I came across this chapter: “Why We Are Dishonest, and What We Can Do about It.”  Here are some the Stats that he quotes that really bother me.  I hope they bother you too.  In 2004 the total costs of all robberies in the United States was $525 million.  That’s bad, but not too bad … unless of course you were one of the victims.  What is really bad is that employee theft and fraud in the workplace is estimated at $600 billion each year.  That is billion with a “B”.  And guess who the ultimate victims are … yep!, we all end up paying for others’ indiscretions.  As Ariely aptly puts it, one year of office monkey business exceeds all that all the criminals in the word could steal in a lifetime. As long as I am throwing around his Stats, here are two more involving everyone but you and me: taxpayers short the US government $350 billion (again with a “B”) a year; and finally, bogus insurance claims come in at about $24 billion a year.  Gulp, those career criminals are pretty small fish when compared to us honest folks.

Action Tip: The experiements that Aiely conducted to test our honesty were extensive, clever, cute and persuasive.  I especially like the experiments with giving away free money.  If you haven’t read either The Honest Truth or Predictably Irrational, I strongly recommend you put one or both on your reading list.

Self-Development Corner: This week on Coursera you can improve your writing skills Writing II: Rhetorical Composing (April 22, 6 weeks, Ohio State University), learn to play a guitar Introduction to Guitar (April 22, 6 weeks, Berklee College of Music), or be a concerned citizen Community Change in Public Health (April 22, 6 weeks, Johns Hopkins).

This week national news agencies reported in the next step forward to bringing MOOCs on to the college campus. Here is a summary from the Wall Street Journal: “Kaplan University has been selected to participate in a national pilot program that will examine the potential of massive open online courses (MOOCs), including how these courses could be integrated into traditional degree completion programs.

Funded through an American Council on Education (ACE) grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) pilot program will help determine how students succeed at higher education institutions after having received credit for a MOOC.”

Happy learning.

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: Everyday ethics

Competency: self-development, ethics, integrity

Who benefits: all of us

Consultant Usage: to thine own self be true

What’s it about? Be Good: How to Navigate the Ethics of Everything is a great book for two reasons. The most important is the author has wit, irreverence, and a slightly sarcastic style that is just like Me! (Editor’s note: You wish. Whatever faint resemblance to your writing style exists mainly in your own mind.)

Okay, okay, in addition to the (important) fact that this book is written as smoothly as a baby’s bottom (Editor’s note: The author would never write that line.), there are some excellent stories, practical advice and titillating (Editor’s note: There you go again.) and provocative everyday situations that we all experience in life.

The author is Randy Cohen. He wrote 614 columns for The New York Times Magazine. I have written a similar number for Envisia Learning (Editor’s note: Cut it out!). His columns were entitled “The Ethicist”. They were written for people like you and me. People who have everyday dilemmas concerning personal conduct. Should I do this? Should my brother do that? He writes about Work, Family, Home, Community, Civic Duty, Sports, Love, Sex, (Editor’s note: Don’t go there!) and much more.

His goal is getting us to be aware of even the smallest moral dilemma, confronting it, noting our initial response and subjecting it to ethical analysis. He writes “Practice can improve moral reasoning. Or speed at sudodu.” (Did you observe his wit? I can do that!)

He sets up his book in a way that allows us to practice our moral reasoning. Each of his stories begins with a dilemma a reader faced and essentially asks us, the readers, what we would suggest? It didn’t take me long to recognize and realize that moral questions don’t have easy answers. Or maybe multiple answers. Many times I wanted to begin my thought response by saying “It depends.” But that’s not a fair answer because life isn’t that way. Something happened – now there is a problem – a solution is needed.

I found myself completely enveloped by this book. I took time to analyze almost all of the reader enquiries. What would I do? What should I do? Are those two questions producing different answers? Why? I kept thinking “Oh what a tangled web we weave….”

I am going to let the book entice you. Here are some inquiries from some of the daily areas where moral dilemmas creep into our lives. I found the inquiries intriguing and not always easy to answer. How about you?

Work: “I am a supervisor at a large corporation in the Bible Belt. I am gay and out and, while the company has no formal nondiscrimination policy, my colleagues and supervisors generally have no issues with my sexuality. I am to interview a potential employee in his early twenties who hunts, drives a truck, and did not attend college. I want those who join my team to be of a tolerant disposition. Would it be appropriate to tell this applicant that I am gay?”

Home: “Hypothetically, would it be unethical to place a security firm’s lawn signs around my front yard even though I have not installed its security system? These fake “caveats” would discourage intruders, and the security firm would get free advertising for its product. So who’s hurt?”

“Without warning or consultation, our new neighbor cut down the trees that separated our properties, destroying our privacy and views. He had the legal right to do this … but does he have an ethical obligation to mitigate or repair the damage or compensate us in some way?” (In his response, brilliant writer Cohen wrote “As Joyce Kilmer did not write: I think that I shall never see / a poem vengeful as a tree.”)

Doctors: “I am an anesthesiologist at a metropolitan hospital. A patient scheduled for an operation one day requested a female anesthesiologist, a request we were inclined to honor. When the anesthesiologist’s name was given to the patient, she wondered if the anesthesiologist was African American. When told that she was, the patient demanded a white anesthesiologist … What should we have done?”

Civic Life: “A friend was caught by police radar going 51 in a 35 mph zone. In front of his children, he admitted that he was speeding but asked if I knew a lawyer to help fight the ticket. I told him I thought he should accept the consequences, learn from the experience and give his children a lesson in ethics. He looked at me as if I were from Mars. Shouldn’t he just pay the ticket?”

Money: “When I checked into a hotel in California, I was starving, so I ate the $6 box of Oreos from the minibar. Later that day, I walked down the street to a convenience store, bought an identical box for $2.50, and replenished the minibar before the hotel had a chance to restock it. Was this proper? My view is “no harm, no foul.’ In fact, my box was fresher: The Oreos I ate were going to expire three months before the box I replaced them with.”

So how did you do? Think you know the right answers? Even if you are right, are you sure of your reasoning? Cohen’s responses were often as thought provoking as the inquiries. I urge you to access this book and read AND think along with the author. It is important in our decision making to not only make the correct (moral) decision, but to understand why. (Editor’s note: Okay, that’s a good ending.)

Catch you later.