The 4th Key to Success

The 4th Key to Success

Most of us would agree that career success comes from a mixture of these three elements:

1. Talent
2. Hard work
3. Opportunity (or, Luck)

But in his new book, Give and Take, organizational psychologist and Wharton professor Adam Grant suggests that increasingly there is another key:

Success depends heavily on how we approach our interactions with other people.  Every time we interact with another person at work, we have a choice to make:  do we try to claim as much value as we can, or contribute value without worrying about what we receive in return?

In other words, the fourth key is: relationships.  Grant identifies three approaches to work relationships:  Givers, Takers, and Matchers.

Takers like to get more than they give, putting their own interests ahead of others.  They provide help strategically, considering what they will eventually get in return: what’s in it for them.

Givers prefer to give more than they get, focusing on what they can do for others with little regard for personal cost.

Matchers keep track to achieve fairness.

Grant says we can shift between these approaches depending on role or situation, but most people have a primary style for work relationships.

According to his research, Givers are clustered at the top and bottom of the performance curve, with Takers and Matchers more likely to be in the middle.  But there is another effect:

Givers, takers, and matchers all can–and do–achieve success.  But there’s something distinctive that happens when givers succeed: it spreads and cascades.  When takers win, there’s usually someone else who loses… When givers win, people are rooting for them and supporting them, rather than gunning for them.  Givers succeed in a way that creates a ripple effect, enhancing the success of people around them.  You’ll see that the difference lies in how giver success creates value, instead of just claiming it.

What’s your primary style for the fourth key to success?