I hope you don't get too sick of me posting reviews of books I had to complete for my course. I really did enjoy this one a lot. It had a lot of interesting facts and data/examples to show why helping others leads to win/win. It's hard out there if you are a manager and you have employees or bosses that are set to win and they want to make sure that you lose. Heck, I have to deal with agency officials at times that don't want to concede a point since that will be saying (to them at least) that they lost. 

 

"Give and Take" starts off with Grant laying out a story about an investor and a man who had a great idea for a company (the investor's name was Hornik and the man who pitched an idea to him was named Shader). What I thought was interesting was that Shader felt uneasy since he thought that Hornik in a word was too nice. Hornik suggested he seek out other people and take his time. And Shader was worried that Hornik would spend too much time encouraging him instead of challenging him. Yes in the business world this is apparently bad.

 

From there, Grant breaks the rest of the book down into "takers" and "givers." I found out through my course work and feedback survey and other surveys I took am a giver. I am also a border crosser (means I go back and forth between groups and am a go to person to do that) and surprise surprise I am also more likely to hit burnout. And in fact my one instructor read through all of my surveys and gave me feedback that I am close now. This book really was eye opening to me that you can be a "giver" and not be taken advantage of and not be seen as weak. That you want to approach ever negotiation as a win-win and not do your level best to wreck your opponent. You do have to be protective of yourself though and not "give" too much of yourself away to others. 

 

I loved reading that yes "givers" are more likely to land at the bottom of the success leaders, but also they are more likely to land at the top as well. I think it's all about how people perceive givers as the story above shows. In the end I loved that Shader went back to Hornik after realizing the other guy who was a "taker" was ultimately not who he wanted to work with. 

Grant also provides examples of one of the biggest takers out there: Kenneth Lay. What's shocking is how many people knew what Lay was doing, but were talked down to and were not allowed to speak up. Lay was a classic taker and Grant shows numerous ways that he was first and foremost thinking only of himself. 

 

One of my favorite facts in this book though is Grant showcases a famous lawyer named Dave Walton who used to stutter And he points out other famous people who used to stutter as well such as GE CEO Jack Welch, VP Joe Biden, singer Carly Simon, 20/20 anchor John Stossel and actor James Earl Jones. I used to stutter as a child and had a great speech therapist. I eventually learned to speak without a stutter, and now all of my colleagues don't believe me when I mention that I used to have one. I think that they just see the person before them, not the one who had to jump a lot of hurdles to get to where she is now.

So all in all, a great book that I think would enhance any class on leadership. 

Difficult Women by Roxanne Gay
Fearless Creating by Eric Maisel
Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Girl With All The Gifts by MR Carey
The Widow Nash by Jamie Harrison
Giant of the Senate by Al Franken
Option B - Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy. 
Dangerous Ends by Alex Segura

I wanted to kick this book after reading just half. I'm glad I didn't because this way I have no reserves on giving it fewer stars. I expected more from Mr Grant's book. I thought this was gonna reflect HIS studies and not explain what others did(the studies and the books suggested are useful, however). Also comparing Amelia Earhart(the first woman who flew over the Atlantic Ocean) and a lady, I forgot her name, that started the suffragette movement in the US, with Beyonce, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sheryl Sandberg(who also wrote the intro) is astonishing if not laughable. If you want to read something more interesting try 'The Geography of Genius', it is way more appealing, captivating, and original. Pun intended.

GR Cleanup. Originally read in Sept. 2011.

I haven’t yet had a chance to read Richelle Mead’s novel Storm Born (Dark Swan #1) but I’m definitely interested after finishing volume 1 of this graphic novel adaption. Will I be disappointed? Knowing me, probably but this version didn’t disappoint. It’s a gritty urban fantasy brought to vivid life with bright colors and beautiful artwork and it left me hanging for more.

Eugenie Markham, usually known as only as Odile the Dark Swan to the beasties she sends back to the Lands of Death, is all badass beautiful with her tats, violet eyes and fiery hair. She’s a shamanic mercenary who tracks down evil creatures for a living. But strangely her latest monster knows her real name. It’s disquieting and something is definitely afoot that will no doubt cause her later grief but the reasons are not revealed here.

She’s asked to retrieve a missing girl abducted by the fairies (gentry) which will require her to cross over into the Otherworld. Something she never does. She ponders it even though it’s wildly dangerous because, apparently, these aren’t your nectar sipping fey. Does she go? Well we don’t find that out either. Yet.

A small cast of characters are introduced along with Eugenie and they all have fun little quirks. Roomie Tim dresses up as an American Indian because it gets him chicks, Eugenie does cute little kitty puzzles to decompress and then there’s super hunky love interest and veterinarian Kiyo who is gorgeously drawn and heats up the pages. There is violence, bad language and sexuality (and some rough-ish sex) in this here ebook so I wouldn’t let your nosey youngsters snoop over your shoulder as you read. All of the choice bits are cleverly hidden (darn) but it’s spicy all the same.

I thoroughly enjoyed Storm Born and will do my best to track down the rest of these graphic versions as they're released. My only small niggle was one bit of dialogue that could easily have been left out or reworded because it left me wondering how Eugenie jumped to a certain conclusion about a man and his driving skills but it’s a minor nit in a very entertaining story. Other than that this has the makings of a promising series and I’m anxious to check it out.

There are givers. There are takers. Who loses? Who wins?As you might suspect, the givers lose. But here’s a surprise: the givers also win.Lots and lots here for those who own companies or manage people or just want to know more about human nature.