When Nice Guys Finish First
Consider this choice: Given two individuals with equivalent talent and skills, who do you look up to and prefer to work with, promote, or invite onto a project? Chances are it's the more compassionate one.
If that sounds intuitively right, it's now getting some backing by science—with a few conditions. Wharton professor Adam Grant argues that kindness and compassion give us a far greater advantage than self-absorption. Nice guys do finish first, he explains, as long as they learn how not to let others take advantage of them.
In his best-selling book,
Give and Take, Grant explains that compassionate leaders sometimes do lose out. People who care about others’ well-being and look out for their colleagues and employees—the group Grant calls "givers"—are overrepresented at the bottom of the success ladder. This is because often selfish "takers" mow them down. But here’s the surprising finding: Grant also reveals that "givers" are overrepresented at the very top of the success ladder, too. How can that be?
It turns out that people like and appreciate givers more. They therefore become more influential. The difference between successful and unsuccessful givers often comes down to strategy: when givers learn strategies that prevent others from taking advantage of them, their "nice" qualities end up helping them succeed above and beyond anyone else. Why? In part because everyone loves working with them and appreciates them for their kind and giving qualities.
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https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feeling-it/201602/why-nice-guys-really-do-finish-first