December 22, 2014

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Adam Grant on givers, takers, matchers and fakers

University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Professor and bestselling author Adam Grant presents some heartening research on how being a giver can lead to success.

By Scott Barry Kaufman

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Professor and bestselling author Adam Grant presents some heartening research on how being a giver can lead to success. He and Scott chat about a plethora of topics, including the meaning of friendship, introversion, takers, and fakers, and the importance of challenging dogmatic science.

In this episode you will hear:

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  • Scott and Adam psychoanalyze each other

  • The difference between givers, takers, matchers, and fakers

  • The core differences between social introversion and extraversion

  • The professional/romantic ramifications of being a giver or taker

  • How to structure educational environments to reward givers

  • Jonah Salk's big mistake

  • Who will leave the lasting legacy - Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?

  • Who is a benevolent narcissist? Who is a covert narcissist?

  • Why Adam defended Malcolm Gladwell

  • The relevance of emotional intelligence

  • The difference between a scholar and a fundamentalist

  • The importance of rebelling against your own ideas

  • Why success depends more on giving than people realize

  • Signs that you are a taker

  • How to overcome "compassion fatigue"

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“HR's most influential international thinkers, BusinessWeek's favorite professors, and the world's top 40 business professors under 40. He is the author of Give and Take, a New York Times bestselling book that has been translated into 27 languages and has been named one of the best books of 2013 by Amazon, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal-- as well as one Oprah's riveting reads, Harvard Business Review's ideas that shaped management, and the Washington Post's books every leader should read. Malcolm Gladwell recently identified Adam as one of his favorite social science writers, calling his work “brilliant."” – Blurb taken from Adam’s UPenn biography

Scott Barry Kaufman is a humanistic psychologist exploring the depths of human potential. He has taught courses on intelligence, creativity and well-being at Columbia University, N.Y.U., the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. He hosts the Psychology Podcast and is author and/or editor of nine books, including Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization, Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind (with Carolyn Gregoire), and Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. Find out more at http://ScottBarryKaufman.com. In 2015 he was named one of "50 groundbreaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world" by Business Insider. He wrote the extremely popular Beautiful Minds blog for Scientific American for close to a decade. Follow him on X.

More by Scott Barry Kaufman

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