Editor’s Letter – The Power of a Story
Business books almost always let me down; I find them self-serving and overwritten like their mission is to sell a consulting gig. If someone recommends a business book to me, I’ll search my local library then the half-priced bookstore before I’ll check it out. And while I read this latest “game changer,” I will probably be thinking of other books I could be reading, like fiction by Kurt Vonnegut or a history book by Jon Meacham.
Years ago, when a business associate gave me a small red book that promised “A Powerful Business Idea,” I was skeptical. I trusted the person giving me this book, but that hasn’t always worked out for me. Still, it was only about 100 pages long so I opened it and sat down in my reading chair.
Today, I’m recommending this book more than any other. And I’ve purchased and given away more copies than I can count. “The Go-Giver, A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea” delivers on the two things that title promises. It makes the case for a powerful idea and it does so through a story. No bullet points, all CAPS lists or data dumps in pictograph form. Just a simple little story.
Go Giver book review
The Go-Giver was published in 2007 and I first read it in 2014 or so. The book is even more important today, in my opinion, to me and to any businesspeople nationwide looking for “stratospheric success.” I put those words in quotes because, while the book isn’t about lists, it does end with five laws of stratospheric success. I won’t share all five, but just a couple.
The first of those is “The Law of Value: Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.” Any time you enter a business meeting, a potential deal, or even just a discussion, you should be thinking about what you can contribute, not what you might take away.
The final law is “The Law of Influence: Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.” This one has been big for me since the first time I read it. And it makes me think of my father. He was a phenomenal salesman and some of his clients became his best friends. That taught me a lot about the definition of “success.”
A couple quotes from The Go-Giver are powerful reminders for me about the strength of this idea.
“‘Does it make money?’ is not a bad question. It’s a great question. It’s just a bad first question. It starts you off pointed in the wrong direction. The first question should be, ‘Does it serve? Does it add value to others?’ If the answer to that question is yes, then you can go ahead and ask, ‘Does it make money?’”
“You give, give, give. Why? Because you love to. It’s not a strategy; it’s a way of life.”
“If you want more success, find a way to serve more people. It’s that simple.”
I realize these quotes are not as powerful on this page as they are inside the whole story of the young man Joe who is a driven businessperson looking for his success. You need to read the story. Buy it. In fact, buy two copies because you’re going to want to give one away.
