Givers finish on top

Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist, and he has spent years studying people’s reciprocity types. He categorizes people as Givers, Takers and Matchers. The terms are pretty self-explanatory: Givers focus on helping others, Takers are selfish and narcissistic and Matchers help others in return for favors, balancing their giving and taking in equal measure.

Curiously, when he tabulated the Givers, Takers and Matchers to find which group enjoyed the best long-term success, Grant found that the Givers were at the bottom of the ranking. All the time and effort they spent helping others meant they were ignoring their own objectives.

Thankfully, the Takers didn’t occupy the top spot - they tended to rise quickly and then fall quickly again. So it must have been the Matchers at the top, right? No. they were more or less in the middle. The Givers were at the top again. It may sound counterintuitive for Givers to be at the bottom and the top of a success ranking, but the reasoning is that while Givers may get left behind a little at the start of their careers as they spend too much time helping others, the social capital they accumulate along the way builds up with compounded goodwill to the point where they get a slingshot rocket boost later on down the road.

While the Matcher philosophy might seem the most reasonable reciprocity type to adopt in life, if we extrapolate Grant’s findings to society at large, we can begin to see the limitations of adopting such a stance in a world as unevenly balanced as ours. If people act based purely on the expectation that they will get something in return, net progress for our society increases at a somewhat arithmetic (1,2,3,4,5,6...) pace. But if more of us adopted a Giver approach, the outcomes for society would, in my view, accelerate at a geometric (1,2,4,8,16,32…) rate.

If more of us adopted a smart Giver approach, the outcomes for society would accelerate at a geometric rate.

Most of us give something of ourselves on a daily basis – at work with colleagues, at home with our families and socially with our friends. Most of that giving happens in a controlled, established environment – we give knowing that we will also receive. But the current situation requires us all to give on a different level – one where the reciprocal return is not guaranteed.

Among other measures taken, MAPFRE is giving 30 million euros to SMEs and the self-employed in Spain, 24 million euros in advance payments to its national provider network and 5 million euros in the form of a capital contribution to a collective Life insurance policy for health care professionals.

And Fundación MAPFRE is giving too: 5 million euros in research grants to accelerate the process of finding a COVID-19 vaccine, 20 million euros in emergency medical supplies and 10 million euros through various initiatives ranging from offering a psychological support service, advice to independent business owners and a microdonations program.

We don’t know if that giving will be reciprocated. What we do know is that it is the right thing to do under the circumstances.

In the midst of this crisis, we are seeing the best of many people around us, but I think that the display of utterly selfless giving that we are witnessing on the part of medical professionals and others in the broader caring industry is a source of inspiration and hope. That is why MAPFRE is proud to be helping health care organizations in 27 countries respond adequately to the pandemic. 

Giving is what is going to get us all past this terrible situation. Together, stronger and better.

These days, giving is the only game in town. Giving is what is going to get us all past this terrible situation. Together, stronger and better.