The Go-Giver
by Bob Burg and John David Mann
Hardcover, 132 pages, $19.95 New
Rate: 5 stars (out of 5)
The
Go-Giver is a business parable about Joe, a typical hard charging go-getter, who learns the true secret of success through unselfish giving. It's the end of the quarter and Joe needs to close the big deal. Joe seeks out Pindar for his influence and connections. Instead, Pindar offers to teach Joe the five laws which are the Secret of Stratospheric Success. In return, Joe must employ each law that day or Pindar will stop teaching him. Over the next five days, Pindar introduces Joe to an individual who each embodies an element of the Secret of Stratospheric Success:
The Law of Value: your worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. "Exceed peoples expectations and they'll pay you even more."
The Law of Compensation: your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them. "Your compensation is directly proportional to how many lives you touch."
The Law of Influence: your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first. Win-win or 50/50 are losing propositions: you are only being a scorekeeper or creditor.
The Law of Authenticity: the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself. Be honest and open with yourself and to others around you.
The Law of Receptivity: the key to effective giving is to be open to receiving. "The secret to
getting is
giving. And the secret to
giving is making yourself open to
receiving."
Key Take-Aways- Givers are magnetic. They attract people.
- "If you want more success, find a way to serve more people."
- Stop keeping score with referrals.
- "Sometimes you feel foolish, even look foolish, but you do the thing anyway."
- Develop a network of people who know you, like you, and trust you. These people will be your personal walking ambassadors who will send you "referrals faster than you can handle them." This network is not necessarily your customers or clients or people with whom you directly do business.
- Receiving is the natural result of giving. By not receiving you are denying someone else the opportunity to give.
Analysis
The Go-Giver is a fun, easy, light, fast business book to read but it has some excellent wisdom. I really liked the "fresh perspective" of giving to receive and to stop keeping score with referrals. I thought back to times where I sent referrals to people only because I wanted their business or access to their clients. And how frustrated I was that they never reciprocated. One the other side, I felt equally frustrated when someone sent me a referral and I've been unable to reciprocate.
This book also has touched me because I've been doing a lot of serious contemplation and praying about serving others (i.e., giving). When I first started my company providing computer support to small businesses, I wanted to be their champion, to help them and give them the best technology. But nowadays, the business feels like I'm just trying to make money to meet payroll, pay the rent and have enough money left over for my mortgage, to put food on the table and to cloth my family. This is a great reminder of why I started my business years ago which was to serve others. I've comitted myself a few months ago to get back to those basic principles.
Yes, on the surface the Go-Giver may appear to be one of those cheesy, mass-appeal, "the Secret" type of books but inside it has a true wealth of wisdom. But I read it and I shared it anyways. "Sometimes you feel foolish, even look foolish, but you do the thing anyway."
