November 16, 2020

Hello,

For our last meeting of 2020 (how are we there already?), we will be reading Dare to Lead by Brene Brown as recommended in Tuesday's meeting. It's very well timed. Most current major news headlines revolve around leadership: what is the current leader of the United States doing now, who won the election to be our next leader, who is leading successful responses to COVID. Great crises call for great leaders so what better time to examine what makes a leader great.

Tuesday's meeting on Give and Take brought up some questions and ideas that I'm still mulling over. Thank you to everyone who attended, as always, for your insight and time. I'm mixing in notes from the meeting with our weekly three below. Enjoy!

The Weekly Three

1. Something about Grant in relation to Carnegie: I imagine that most people pick up Give and Take in order to learn how to become more successful professionals. I imagine that Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People is often read with the same intent. Some of the methods in the two books are similar but Catherine commented that Grant's book is like a modern ethical version of Carnegie's. Indeed, there is some blatant manipulation in Carnegie's book that does not translate well from 1937. Here is an article with more commentary about said questionable advice.

2. Something about the existence of altruism: Grant's research tells us that the most successful group of people are what he calls "otherish givers". They are strategic with their giving, they know best when to give it and to whom. The group he calls "selfless givers" are the least successful, but notably happier than the strict "takers" who are at the top of the success bell curve. Discussing motivation for action steered the conversation Tuesday night towards altruism. Does selfless concern and action for the well being of others actually exist? If you want to take a deep and thorough dive into altruism, go here.

image from Conversation Agent

3. Something to make you laugh (and maybe use depending on upcoming Zoom call moods): Instead of the usual, run of the mill greeting, try these instead

Thank you for your time, Amber