Better a Giver Than a Taker Be

Talk about timing!

A day after I met with Bob Burg, speaker and author extraordinaire, I came across a discussion in Nigel Edelshain’s Sales 2.0 LinkedIn group where someone asked: “Are you a go-giver or a go-getter?”

Along with John David Mann, Burg wrote the thoroughly enjoyable “The Go-Giver” in 2007. The entire book is a parable emphasizing giving as a means of succeeding in business and it was popular, so much so that now Mann and Burg are out with a sequel called “Go-Givers Sell More.”

From all accounts Burg is a generous, caring, and exceptional man who practices what he preaches. Learning he’d be in Denver on a speaking engagement, I arranged to talk with him and to film a short video for this blog.

Then I spotted the LinkedIn discussion. Edelshain called “The Go-Giver” awesome and inspiring. My friend Paul Castain who runs the Sales Playbook group on LinkedIn talked about the “Go Giver” philosophy and the many ways people can embrace it. Others commented on how giving of your knowledge and time fits so well into today’s social media environment.

How cool is that to have a spirited discussion online about your book and your philosophy?

By the way, Burg says that “giving” and “getting” are not mutually exclusive. I like to think of it as what goes around comes around. Or as Joe learns as the fifth law of stratospheric success in “The Go-Giver,” “the key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.”

Enjoy this video with Burg, and please share your comments about his philosophy by scrolling down to the comment section below.