• What causes paranoia in an organization?
• 3 categories of human interactions - Takers: think of every interaction as getting from others without giving back - narcassist
• some people become takers when taken advantage of when they were givers or matchers
• Givers: enjoy helping others with no strings attached
• Matchers: keep an even balance of give and take
• many of us have blind spots when we think we are givers and are actually takers or matchers…can only find out if asking others
• takers rise quickly in an organization and fall quickly
• many matchers gossip about takers to everyone in the organization
• takers hate to see other takers succeed
• givers will be in the top 25% and lowest 25% of the organization
• givers often fail in the short run and succeed in the long run
• recommendations - (1) get the right people on the bus – most important to keep the wrong people off the bus – keep takers off the team (in the presence of givers matchers become givers) - no correspondence between agreeability and disagreeability
• watch out for agreeable takers
• most people project their own motivation on others
• you can find out a lot about people by asking them to make projections about the future and actions of others
• (2) redefine giving - do more 5 minute favors – a micro loan
• 100 hours a year is the sweet spot of giving (2–11 hours per week)
• (3) Encourage help-seeking - the reciprocity ring – have everyone make a request for help in a group and have others volunteer to help (can have requests written anonymously and then have people sign their name on the request sheet)
• www.humaxnetworks.com
• Let’s start a trend to get people to be “Pro-noid” a fear that other people are wanting to help you

Originally published on stephen.braunius.org