“Every time we interact with another person at work, we have a choice to make: do we try to claim as much value as we can, or contribute value without worrying about what we receive in return?”

This profound book shatters that assumption, showing that the more vital skill is asking the right questions….

When you put off a task, you buy yourself time to engage in divergent thinking rather than foreclosing on one particular idea.

Dissenting opinions are useful even when they’re wrong. So instead of speaking to highly agreeable audiences, target suggestions to people with a history of originality.

Negative relationships are unpleasant but predictable.

Most people believe that great leaders are distinguished by their ability to give compelling answers.

Being a giver is not good for a 100-yard dash, but it’s valuable in a marathon.

When you’re dealing with an ambivalent relationship, you’re constantly on guard, grappling with questions of trust.

This is what I find most magnetic about successful givers: they get to the top without cutting others down, finding ways of expanding the pie that benefit themselves and the people around them.

The more I help out, the more successful I become. But I measure success in what it has done for the people around me. That is the real accolade.

Focus attention and energy on making a difference in the lives of others, and success might follow as a by-product.

Whereas success is zero-sum in a group of takers, in groups of givers, it may be true that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Berger poses many fascinating questions, including this one: What if companies had mission questions rather than mission statements? This is a book everyone ought to read – without question.

There are takers, who are always trying to serve themselves; matchers, who are always trying to get equal benefit for themselves and others; and givers, who are always trying to help people.

People tend to have one of three ‘styles’ of interaction.

Procrastinate strategically… Procrastination may be the enemy of productivity but it can be a valuable resource for creativity.

The most meaningful way to succeed is to help others succeed.

I know what it’s like to feel that fear and the need of affirmation and appreciation. To build confidence in yourself is the toughest thing.

I’ve been so lucky to work with such great people: people that are such hard workers and have such a respect and appreciation for one another.

All that a husband or wife really wants is to be pitied a little, praised a little, and appreciated a little.

My mom modeled and made clothes, so I always had such an appreciation for design.

As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own.

The overwhelming number of police officers in Chicago are doing good work under difficult conditions. They put their lives on the line every day in situations none of us can fully comprehend or appreciate.

I think people who grow up in one particular environment, like the Alabama-Auburn game, they don’t ever get the same appreciation for the Ohio State-Michigan game or the Michigan State-Notre Dame game or the Michigan-Michigan State game, the Browns and the Steelers.

All of these things can occur with or without God. I do not believe in the existence of God, but I consider myself a spiritual person in the manner I have just described. I call myself a spiritual atheist. I would imagine that many people are spiritual atheists.