Should we be givers or takers?

An artificial earthquake was triggered by Mexicans jumping in jubilation after their team scored a surprise victory over World Cup defending champion Germany recently. At least two of the sensors of the Institute for Geological and Atmospherical Investigations inside Mexico City detected a seismic movement during the World Cup match, "most likely produced by the massive celebration" according to the Institute's blog post.

Find ways to move people en masse. This is what inspirational, motivational leadership is all about. 

In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns or relationship and the capacity to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, positions and titles.

The Harvard Grant Study makes it clear that it isn't just that people who are more connected are the happiest people. They are also the most successful at work. 

Here's a critical but often neglected thought: 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 personal relationships and friendships, we contribute whenever we can without keeping score. But in the workplace, few of us act purely like givers or takers. We become matchers, striving to preserve an equal balance of giving and taking. 

In fact research demonstrates that givers sink to the bottom of the success ladder. Across a wide range of important occupations, givers make others better off but sacrifice their own success in the process. Going out of their way to help others prevented them from getting their own work done.

So who's at the top - takers or matchers? 

Neither. It's the givers again. According to the research, the worst performers and the best performers are givers: takers and matchers are more likely to land in the middle. Some givers do become pushovers and doormats. But with the right strategies and choices, givers  can dominate the top of the success ladder.