You never know where your next bit of inspiration will come from. I was attending my usual Tuesday Rotary lunch meeting a couple of weeks ago and we had a guest. It is not unusual for us to have guests; what was unusual is this guest brought a gift.
We hold a raffle each week to raise money for our foundation. This week, our guest brought a book he wanted to give away so we held a double-drawing; one for our usual raffle and then a second for the book. I did not win which made me sad since it was a book. I did not care what the book was….I just wanted it!
After our meeting, I asked our guest if he was the author (again I had not really paid attention to the book yet) of the book and if that was why he was giving it away. He quickly said no. Confused, I asked why he would give the book away. His response, “I believe in the message of the book so completely, I give it away to anyone who will receive.” (This is important and we will come back to this later.) I was intrigued! He asked for my card so he could send me a copy. I willingly provided not really expecting him to send me the book. You know how promises are made at networking events in the moment, which are not really intended to be followed-through on.
Two weeks later, I received a package at work from a name I did not recognize. I opened it and found the book I had coveted at Rotary! The Go-Giver. For those who keep up with my #bookworm blog, you know I have four to five books at any given time waiting to be read. I also pay attention when the Universe is speaking to me. I felt this was a book I needed to read and moved to the front of the line.
Mind BLOWN!
I started reading The Go-Giver first thing Sunday morning just to give it a twirl. From the moment I read the first page, I was captivated. I started by reading the reviews. I will not list them all here, but what I do want to list are some of the people who wrote them: Stephen Covey, Daniel Pink, David Bach, Michael Gerber, and Gary Keller to name a few.
Arianna Huffington wrote the foreward. I love her last statement, “Not as a quid pro quo, not as a strategy to get ahead, but because it is, in and of itself, a satisfying and fulfilling way to be.”
I realize this is a little more hype than I usually do for a book, but this one deserves it. Now to the meat!
I believe many of us do a couple of these things but few of us do all five of the principles listed in this book. I think the introduction sums up the concept for the book nicely, “the more you give, the more you receive.”
I will run through each of the five principles quickly and then I highly encourage you to read the book. It is a quick, provocative read that could potentially change your life.
The First Law
The Law of Value: Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
In this section, Pindar (the mentor) introduces Joe (the mentee) to several concepts. The first is appearances are often deceiving. The second is “all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like, and trust.” (For a great TedX talk on this, visit Mitchell Levy’s talk on turning experts into thought leaders.) Another concept in the chapter is the first question of business should be does it serve? Does it add value to others?
The Second Law
The Law of Compensation: Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
So many nuggets in this chapter! I love the quote, “everybody can be great because everybody can serve,” which is the epitome of this law. We all can serve. But are we willing? Every day, I feel I serve the job seekers of the world. I know their pain while they are in transition and I formulate a plan to assist them to achieve their next great role. I do this because I truly want them to be successful. This chapter takes what I do a step further. I can reach many people with my one on one approach, but in order to be great, I have to reach more. I am currently writing a book on hiring I hope will help the masses. When you read the book, pay particular attention to the schoolteacher example.
The other nugget I gleaned from this chapter relates very well to Napoleon Hill’s quote, “You become what you think about.” In the book, the quote is “What you focus on is what you get.” Two different ways of saying get your mindset right!
The Third Law
The Law of Influence: Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interest first.
This is probably my favorite chapter. Stop keeping score! It is not about if you are even in the end; it’s about giving as much value as you possibly can! This quote really struck home with me, “when you base your relationships – in business or anywhere else in life – on who owes who what, that’s not being a friend. That’s being a creditor.”
Giver’s attract.
The Fourth Law
The Law of Authenticity: The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
I recently had a wake-up call regarding authenticity. Being yourself does not give you carte blanche to say whatever thoughts you have in your head. This was hard for me as I believed saying what you believe is part of your authenticity. However, what I learned, was saying what you believed with compassion and some filters created more authenticity than just stating my raw beliefs. “The most valuable thing you have to give people is yourself.” Make sure they want to receive your gift.
The Fifth Law
The Law of Receptivity: The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.
There is a natural order to giving and receiving. There must be two parties for this exchange to occur. One must give, the other must receive. If you are going to give, you must be just as open to receiving. I love this line in the book, “inside every truth and appearance, there is a bit of opposite tucked inside.”
I do not know why I was on the verge of tears as I read this book. Perhaps it struck a nerve deep inside regarding how I wanted to proceed with my professional career. I do know going forward I will pay close attention to these principles and insure I am executing them in my life. I will give more than I take, serve as many as I can, serve others first, offer all that I am, and be open to receive those gifts others wish to bestow.
Now go read, #bookworm!
