FT Business Book of the Year

Best business books

All the books longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

Give and Take by Adam Grant

Give and Take

Give and Take is perfectly timed and beautifully weighted. Grant, an organisational psychologist, crushes the assumption that me-first takers always reach the top of the ladder. But he also shows how “givers” can adjust their own behaviour so they and the wider community benefit. — Read the complete FT review

Synopsis

Why givers - not takers or matchers - are life’s most successful winners. Everybody knows that hard work, luck and talent each plays a role in our working lives. In his landmark book, Adam Grant illuminates the importance of a fourth, increasingly critical factor - our reciprocity, the way we interact with others when exchanging value. Give and Take changes our fundamental understanding of why we succeed, offering a new model for our relationships with colleagues, clients and competitors. It demolishes the argument of the ‘me first’ worldview and shows that the best way to get to the top is to focus not on your solo journey but on bringing others with you.

Engaging, intriguing and filled with surprising success stories from history to Hollywood, Give and Take presents an approach to work, team building, productivity and profitability that is nothing short of revolutionary. We have been taught to think that people who give without expecting anything in return are at risk of being exploited, or burning out, but the truth is that they are often the most successful people in any given field.

Using his own cutting-edge research as a professor at Wharton Business School, Adam Grant shows how helping others can lead to greater personal success. He demonstrates how smart givers avoid becoming doormats, and why this kind of success has the power to transform not just individuals and groups, but entire organisations and communities.