"The Go-Giver," by Bob Burg & John David Mann

Reviewer by Mary Catherine Kinney

 

The Go-Giver, written by Bob Burg and John David Mann, is a story about the revolutionary business idea of giving. The book, which displays a hypothetical situation to support the author’s business system, follows Joe, a businessman in corporate America struggling to understand and achieve success, on his daily lunch meetings with mentor Pindar, a man of “stratospheric” success. Pindar walks Joe through The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success, each one defying the traditional laws and teachings of successful business that Joe and most of America believes are the way to achieve financial and personal goals. Although a fictional scenario, the foundation of the business idea that Pindar advocates and eventually teaches to Joe is cohesive and vital to success today.

 

The 1^st Law, The Law of Value claims that real worth is established by how much more you “give in value than you take in payment.” Pindar explains that while being concerned with the money you will make is a great question, it is not the first question that should be asked or considered in business. He challenges Joe to first focus on the value that his service or product adds to his consumer’s lives and perfect that gift. Only after you are deeply concerned with how you can enhance someone’s life do you have room to ask yourself if your service makes money. When Joe, who is trained to focus on the bottom line, is wrestling with this concept, Pindar explains that there is “nothing wrong with making money...It’s just not a goal that will make you successful.” Pindar later makes the point that successful people keep their focus on what they’re giving and that’s what creates success.

 

The 2^nd Law, The Law of Compensation claims that the number of people that you reach and how well you serve them determines your profit. Essentially, it is a matter of how many people’s lives you are impacting that results in your pay. This explains why, celebrities are incredibly successful for, as many people would say, making a career out of being themselves. When the schoolteacher, nurse, firefighter, has developed a noble career yet is making a minimal salary a year. The nobility of the career is not a factor in the level of compensation; what determine your profit is how many people you serve. However, Pindar quickly reminds Joe that true success is not measured by money. Since you and your company gets to determine your level of compensation, there are essentially no limitations on how much you can make because there are no limitations on how many lives you can impact. Pindar’s plan for business expansion maintains that if you want more success, discover a way to serve more people.

 

The 3^rd Law, The Law of Influence claims that putting other people’s interest first determines the amount of influence you possess. The more you continually focus on the other person’s success the more influence you gain. With influence, you gain respect and leverage in your industry. Being a giver is the most attractive and “magnetic” quality to posses. Colleagues, bosses and clients will find you irresistible. The Law of Influence works without being taken advantage of because a giving spirit “magnetizes you.”

 

The 4^th Law, The Law of Authenticity, claims you are the most valuable item that you can give. This Law directly corresponds with PR in that it defines your reputation and who you are as the “foundation of all people skills.” True success in business stems from within you. No matter what you are selling, what you are really offering is you. Therefore, your personality, reputation and demeanor should be compelling, striking, dynamic and engaging. If you are selling yourself, would anyone really be buying?

 

The 5^th Law, The Law of Receptivity, claims the secret to effective giving is to remain open to receiving. Pindar describes the balance of giving and receiving with an incredible analogy. He asks Joe to take a deep breath in and then exhale for 30 seconds. Joe breathes in deep, but 15 seconds into exhalation he gives out and must, in order to survive, breathe in again. Much like giving, when we give or breathe out, we must be in a position to receive or breathe back in. Giving runs in a cycle and revolutionizes lives, businesses and relationships. Burg and Mann make the overarching point that when the focus is no longer on you, then true success happens.

 

The Go-Giver offers a non-traditional model of leadership; however, the key points of the novel complement our class discussion. Although the Five Laws are directed at an individual, a company’s vision and values could also be built and shaped by them as well. The Law of Influence resembles many of the characteristics of Horizontal Management. The “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” motto is obsolete in these laws and instead everyone is working together towards a common goal. Aiding each other and leveraging your talents and traits for the success of others and the group leads to success in both The Law of Influence and Horizontal Management. However, the book’s subtitle is “A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea” the authors never elaborated on how to apply these principles to a company as a whole. Giving is a powerful and often overlooked business principle, and suggestions for application to a group, team or company would have made this novel reach farther.

 

This book comes with my highest praise and recommendation to nearly anyone but especially a public relations student. The principles taught in this book are ones that are often neglected in corporate America and many times mocked. However, if embraced and applied, the principles of giving influence, impact and transform lives and businesses in every industry and market. Sometime in the past 40 years, the mindset of corporate America has received debilitating PR. We enter the workplace thinking that our hearts should be checked at the door as we enter the “dog-eat-dog world.” One of the first fallacies the book addresses is that a goal of money will make you successful. The book is quick to say that making a profit is the desired result, but true success is found and maintained when you focus on what you and your company are giving and sharing with your consumers. For PR students, we are about to enter one of the most cutthroat industries, and it is easy to separate your heart from your work and become blinded by dollar signs. However, if we keep focused on what we have that we want to share or give our clients and consumers, then we’ll know success and true contentment. Also inspiring and thought provoking especially for PR students is Burg and Mann’s new definition of networking: “a network of people who know you, like you and trust you. They might never buy a thing from you but they’ve got you in the back of their minds…an army of personal walking ambassadors.” This idea is innovative! We think of networking as meeting, greeting and collecting business cards and that is a portion of it. But to establish yourself and network your reputation, that is what truly matters and lands jobs. Finally, The Law of Authenticity is vital for PR students because it pegs you as the product you are offering, “the foundation of all people skills is who you are.” In public relations, we know that reputation is everything. The Go-Giver should be on every PR student’s must-read-before-you-graduate list.

Comments

[Bob Burg]

Dear Mary Catherine,

All I can say is WOW (as well as thank you!) for your very kind and complimentary review of John David Mann's and my book. You absoluely captured its essence. Please know how much your thoughts are appreciated!

Bob

[John David Mann]

Thanks so much, Mary Catherine, for your thoughtful review. I was intrigued to see how you related the points of our story to the PR world. In terms of actual application to the business world, we have a new Go-Giver book coming out this February that includes a few dozen vignettes of real-life examples of this -- hope you enjoy it!

Warm regards,

John

[Mary Catherine Kinney]

Bob and John,
Thank you for your kind comments! I thoroughly enjoyed studying your book and the revolutionary business plan that it offers. You guys have made a vital connection between the head and heart of company--strengthening it's potential and impact.

Thanks for blazing a new trail! I look forward to the book in February.

Best,
Mary Catherine