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| The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea | 
 enlarge | Authors: Bob Burg, John David Mann
Creator: Authors
Publisher: Your Coach in a Box
Category: Book
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $15.58
You Save: $4.40 (22%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  99 reviews
Sales Rank: 503632
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.5
ISBN: 1596592001
Dewey Decimal Number: 650
EAN: 9781596592001
ASIN: 1596592001
Publication Date: September 2, 2008 (In 5 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Most people just laugh when they hear that the secret to success is giving...Then again, most people are nowhere near as successful as they wish they were."
The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. And so one day, desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from the enigmatic Pindar, a legendary consultant referred to by his many devotees simply as the Chairman.
Over the next week, Pindar introduces Joe to a series of "go-givers:" a restaurateur, a CEO, a financial adviser, a real estate broker, and the "Connector," who brought them all together. Pindar's friends share with Joe the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success and teach him how to open himself up to the power of giving.
Joe learns that changing his focus from getting to giving-putting others' interests first and continually adding value to their lives-ultimately leads to unexpected returns.
Imparted with wit and grace, The Go-Giver is a heartwarming and inspiring tale that brings new relevance to the old proverb "Give and you shall receive."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 94 more reviews...
 The Secret of Success December 31, 2007
38 out of 52 found this review helpful
More and more, I see new books in print that would have made good magazine articles. The author has a decent message that honestly doesn't take too many pages to express. Today, publishers feel comfortable putting those words between two hard covers and charging a lot more than the price of a magazine for the message. Focusing one's life on giving rather than getting is one such message in my opinion. It is useful as a general proposition to read that "[y]our compensation is directly proportional to how many lives you touch." So rock stars make more many than school teachers. While this is so I'm not sure it's healthy. Still, it is useful to know. The parable presented here is an agreeable read. Yet what's tough to swallow is that the man who is taught the five secrets of success presented by the author is immediately rewarded with riches. What could have been presented as a nice zen like way to live that almost certainly will be calming and emotionally rewarding is presented as a road to riches.
 Specific examples please . . . . January 2, 2008
22 out of 30 found this review helpful
Yes, I understand it's allegory. I've read a number of these books and there is no doubt they are well done, interesting, and offer a lesson. I'm a practicing attorney who has "given" (or written off) hundreds, thousands even, of hours of pro bono work in my practice with a genuine and unselfish purpose to help others. Clearly, this has not enhanced my financial success directly or indirectly---just the opposite. Fortunately, I didn't do it for that reason.
Like a lot books in this "genre," it would be very beneficial to understand the authors' financial status, independent of the sale of this book, not to mention some specific examples of real persons that achieved financial success of the "Pindar" sort, or at least in the neighborhood of a "Pindar."
And what would be wrong with that? The allegorical is imaginary. The underlying message, while admirable, in this day and in this time comes close to ringing hollow. Will there be a web site or newsletter providing proof that people following these five rules actually became successful financially, similar to the characters in the book? Will we understand the business, market, or industry, as well as the period of time, in which these successes took place and precisely how success was related to the five rules? Is this a probe for the authors' own business coaching or consultation business (no that there would be a thing wrong with that) so that we can expect specific examples of success from these rules? These aren't unreasonable expectations.
Let's face it, the "secret" we expect to learn when we make our purchase is if it will, sooner, later, or in the end, enhance us financially. Otherwise, at best, we learn what we already know and what our mother's likely taught us in, more or less, different words. Until I see proof, I'm not going to suggest that, if you've read three or more of these kinds of message books, you take valuable time to read this one (at least with expectations that you'll learn something you don't already know, at some level, about the business of making money).
This Book Ruined My Evening Plans December 31, 2007
18 out of 23 found this review helpful
When I received a copy of The Go-Giver, I set aside the last forty-five minutes of the day to start reading the book. Good plan, right?
However, my intent to quit reading at a reasonable hour and get to bed at my usual time disappeared. Within a few minutes, I knew that The Go-Giver had all the suspense of a top-line mystery novel. I couldn't stop until I had read the entire book.
Thanks to Bob Burg and John David Mann for this stimulating parable, filled with enriching thoughts. Everyone who reads this book will re-examine his or her approach to business and customers.That alone will be a "powerful business idea," as the subtitle says.
The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication-change Your Life!
Powerful and Well Written! January 5, 2008
18 out of 31 found this review helpful
When I received my copy of the "Go-Giver" I, too; was going to read it in small doses and then couldn't put it down! I love the way the story is written and unfolds. It forces you to keep reading -- you BECOME the character and you get TRANSPORTED into the story. The writing is so good that you smell the aroma of the coffee, you feel what the character is feeling. I was so impressed with this book, it's message and the way the message is delivered that I have purchased copies for the 118 leaders on my team. I know they all want to be successful and I know this book will go a long way toward helping them reach their goals and dreams. DEFINITELY worth the investment and the time to read it. If you have a team you manage or employees that you are responsible for directing, it's the perfect book to give them. EXCELLENT!
 5 Laws of success that guide how you work with others January 19, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
OK. You know what a go-getter is. Maybe you are one. What is a go-giver? This book is one of those business parables that presents its ideas in the guise of a story. Business stories usually have a protagonist who is in real trouble, meets a wildly successful but mysterious guru who will share the Secret of the Universe with our hero. The hero will at first reject the simplicity of the idea, but will try it out and find that the idea works. The guru will them reveal the rest of the mystery and the hero solves his problem, finds great success, and the story ends happily. Why they all have to be along these lines, I do not know and this one only differs in the details. I mean, it is a pleasant story, but it is fiction. For me, business principles are always more convincing when presented with actual business case studies and even then they tend to be qualified in their applicability.
In any case, this book has five key principles based on the notion that your success comes from working with other folks and rather than trying to and take from the world and get all you can while giving as little back as you can, the truth is just the opposite. You give as much as you can and you will get more back. Remember the story of casting your bread upon the water?
Here are the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success (which are restated at the back of the book):
1)The Law of Value: Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
2)The Law of Compensation: Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
3)The Law of Influence: Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first.
4)The Law of Authenticity: The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
5)The Law of Receptivity: The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.
The story nicely demonstrates what is meant by these principles and fleshes out the ideas in an attractive way. I think the principles are sound and if they interest you then you should get a copy of the book and dig into it.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
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