The Go-Giver has undoubtedly been one of the most influential books I have read.
The Go-Giver as the authors tell, revolves around the story of a young professional (Joe) who is striving for success. Joe is ambitious, however lately it seems like his hard work and efforts are not paying off in terms of results. Following a disappointing quarter—in terms of sales results—he inadvertently seeks the mentorship of The Chairman.
Joe then embarks on a learning journey by meeting Go-Givers—friends of The Chairman. Through these interactions he learns of the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success:
The Law of Value: Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
The Law of Compensation: Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
The Law of Influence: Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.
The Law of Authenticity: The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
The Law of Receptivity: The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.
Besides these, there are valuable learnings one gets from The Go-Giver.
Some of them are:
• In life, you don’t get what you want. You get what you expect. You get what you focus on.
• The world treats you more or less the same way you expect to be treated.
• All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust.
• When thinking of a business idea, ‘Does it make money?’ is not a bad question. It’s just a bad first question. The first question should really be ‘Does it serve? Does it add value to others?’
• You give, give, give. Why? Because you love to. It’s not a strategy. It’s a way of life.
• How much you are worth (how valuable you are) only determines your potential success. But your income is determined by your IMPACT – how MANY lives you touch.
• If you want more success, find a way to serve more people. There are NO limitations to how much you can earn, because you can always find more people to serve! Everybody can be successful because anybody can give.
• Sometimes, when you give, you feel foolish, even look foolish, but you do the thing anyway.
• Life is an opportunity to Survive, Save & Serve.
Survive – to meet your basic living needs.
Save – to go beyond your basic needs and expand your life.
Serve – to make a contribution to world around you.
• It’s important to develop a network. Not just a network of clients or customers, but a network of people who know you, like you and trust you. They may never buy a thing from you, but they’ve always got you at the back of their minds.
• Win-Win is a losing proposition. Change from ‘Win-Win’ thinking to ‘If-you-win-then-I-win’ thinking. Focus on the other person’s win.
• Givers attract. Giving magnetizes you.
• You can excel by adding value. If you need money, add value. If you need a lot of money, add a lot of value.
• Every giving can happen only because it is also a receiving.
Please do read this book. It is a Life changer. It is MANDATORY reading for most of my coaching clients. I also give assignments to my clients to APPLY the five laws in their daily lives (similar to the ones The Chairman gives Joe).