Excerpts from “The Go-Giver: A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea” by Bob Burg & John David Mann
Thanks to Office of Students Affairs & Communication team at IIIT Delhi for sending me this book, T-shirt, and IIITD Mask 🙂 I was ❤️😍😮 all at once, when I got a packet with “Gift Item” on top; arrived on July 12. Background for why they may have sent it — as part of the #Induction2020 we sent out Last Lecture book and Tshirts to #Classof2024, some posts about these .
Just out of curiosity, flipped through the pages, reading a few lines here and there, got very curious after that; given that I have not read a book say in the last month or so (thanks to the move!!!!), thought will start reading it. It was so engrossing, finished it in 3 sitting in 5 days 🙂
[Page xiii] People want to believe that this is the way the world can work: that living with a focus on others isn’t just a nice goal but that it can be a way of life, and can lead to life that is full, rich and full-filling.
[Page xiv] By “be a giver,” Bob and John mean be a giving person, period: one who gives thought, gives attention, give care, gives focus, gives time and energy — gives value to others.
[Page 8] Pindar nodded as they walked along the path. “Actually, successful people do this all the time. Typically, the more successful they are, the more willing they are to share their secrets with others.”
[Page 9] ‘I believe that a person can reach a certain level of success without being particularly special. But to get really, really big, to reach the kind of stratospheric success we’re talking about, people need to have something on the inside, something that’s genuine.’
[Page 13] “No,” said Pindar, “that one is true. In life, you often don’t get want you want. But,” he leaned forward again and his voice grew softer with emphasis, “here’s what you do get — you get what you expect.”
[Page 20] “It never hurts to be kind to people,” Pindar replied.
[Page 33] You give, give, give. Why? Because you love to. It’s not a strategy, it’s a way of life.
[Page 43] “Exactly” exclaimed Nicole. “And there are two amazing things about this. First, it means that you get to determine your level of compensation — it’s under your control. If you want more success, find a way to serve more people. It’s that simple.”
[Page 44] ‘Everybody can be successful because anybody can give.”
[Page 51] “Sometimes you feel foolish, even look foolish, but you do the thing anyway”
[Page 55] “They are the three universal reasons for working. Survive — to meet your basic living needs. Save — to go beyond your basic needs and expand your life. And Serve — to make a contribution to the world around you”
[Page 62] “They’re people who are personally invested in seeing you succeed, y’see? And of course, that’s because you’re the same way about them. They’re your army of personal walking ambassadors.
[Page 63] Forget win-win — focus on the other people’s win.
[Page 65] “Givers attract.”
[Page 78] “I believe there is one reason, and only one reason, that we have stayed together so long and are as happy together today as we were forty-eight years ago — more so, in fact. That reason is this: I care more about my wife’s happiness than I do about my own. All I’ve ever wanted to do since the day I met her is make her happy. And here’s the truly remarkable thing — she seems to want the same thing for me.”
[Page 85] I learned something that day. When I said that my life as mom, wife and household manager left me with nothing the market place wanted, I was wrong. There was something else I’d learned over those years, and that was how to be friend. How to care. How to make people feel good about themselves. And that, my friends, is something that marketplace wants very much–always has, always will.”
[Page 111] “The point is not what you do. Not what you accomplish. It’s who you are.”
