;rant The Favor
The highest-ranked professor in Wharton's MBA program
reflects on latest book and growing up in West Bloomfield.
Adam Finkel
Special to the Jewish News
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26 April 11 • 201
ne billion search inquiries get
posed to Google each day from
users around the globe; across
181 countries and 146 languages.
But even Google knows they don't have
all the answers. When they had an inquiry
of their own, relating to the analysis of their
employees' success, they probed Adam M.
Grant, Ph.D.
Prasad Setty, who heads Google's people
analytics group, looks to Grant when they're
"thinking about big problems" that need to
be solved. Setty offered those remarks to the
New York Times magazine, which recently
did a cover story on Grant's new book. Give
and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to
Success was released on April 9.
Grant is now the highest-ranked profes-
sor (and the youngest tenured professor) in
the Wharton MBA program in Philadelphia
— one of the nation's most elite business
programs. He has been ranked as one of
the world's top business professors under
40. He is a sought-after counselor to his stu-
dents and a thought leader at conferences.
Now 31, Grant is in demand by govern-
ment and corporate leaders alike for his
advice on employee wellbeing and work-
place motivation. The professor of manage-
ment is a case study for career success.
Metro Detroit Roots
Today, he resides in Philadelphia with his
wife, Allison Sweet Grant, and their two
young daughters, but both he and his wife
grew up in West Bloomfield.
His extended families belong to Temple
Shir Shalom and Temple Kol Ami. He was
raised by Mark Grant, a lawyer, and Susan
Grant, a teacher. Traci Grant, his younger
sister, describes him as a motivated stu-
dent who showcased responsibility at a
young age.
His grandparents are Marion and Jay
Grant. He is the grandson of the late
Florence and the late Paul Borock. He
credits his success today to luck — and the
determination he learned from athletics
and his family.
The benefits of generosity relating to
professional success that he describes in
his book can be traced to his own personal
life. He mentions Florence Borock, his late
grandmother, for her willingness to drop
everything to pick someone up, even if
it meant driving 2.5 hours in the coldest
days of winter.
Jeremy Rosner of Hartland, Mich., a
friend from childhood, has known Grant
since second grade. He described the
many activities of their youth: fantasy
football, trading baseball cards, base-
ball, tennis, Ping-Pong, tailgating at the
University of Michigan.
Grant was a hard worker, too. His first
job, at age 12, was as a professional magi-
cian; he'd perform for more than a decade.
His summer reading list, intended for
three months, was completed in days. He
was a 1992 Student of the Week in the
Detroit Free Press, lauded for his 4.2 grade
point average.
Grant was a self-proclaimed disaster
during his diving practice freshman year
at West Bloomfield High School. Eric Best,
who now coaches diving at Michigan State
University, could have told him his dismal
tryout didn't cut it. Grant could have walked
off, intimidated by the skills of the team.
So how did Grant go on to become an
All-American and Junior Olympic spring-
board diver? He'll tell you that it's because
his coach went above and beyond to instill
a fierce determination during hours-long
daily practices.
He became captain of the swimming
and diving team. He was named the team's
Laker of the Year in 11th grade and Diver
of the Year in 12th grade. The National
Swimming and Diving Association named
him an Academic All American.
His work ethic led him to Harvard
University and a Ph.D. in organiza-
tional psychology from the University of
Michigan.
Fast forward a few years, his current
obsession revolves around the fabric
of organizational success, including
"employee motivation, productivity and
satisfaction ... the profound and surprising
effects of connecting employees to their
impact on others; and pro-social motiva-
tion within a group:"
Success Is Related To Sharing
In an hour-long interview with the Detroit
Jewish News, Grant discussed how the
world is changing in ways that increasing-
ly value collaboration. Success, he says, is
highly correlated to sharing. Cutthroat
behavior is a short-term approach in a
world where people need to build endur-
ing connections. Being assertive can coex-
ist with being helpful.
In his book, he discusses the clear
contrasts between people who are helpful
with their time, wisdom and expertise,
and those with a personal agenda that puts
themselves before others.
He believes that individuals with ambi-
tious goals to meet their own objectives
will do far better when they contribute
value to others. Grant believes gratitude
Adam Grant
and collaboration set leading companies
like Pixar and Southwest Airlines apart.
He instructs workplaces to act generously
to people that are giving and have rating
systems to rank people and their skills.
Ideally, organizations will develop better
mechanisms for employers to both seek
and give help and to screen out "takers" in
the hiring process.
Grant emphasizes the need for com-
munities and organizations to illustrate the
benefits of their mission on a personal level.
In one example, he cites the dramatic
effectiveness when employees of a call center
raising nonprofit funds met a beneficiary
of the donations. In his study, earnings per
caller increased from $185.94 to $503.22.
He referenced one study from Israel in
his book, which showed that attaching
a patient's photo to a CT scan increased
diagnostic accuracy by 46 percent.
Jeffrey Zaslow, whose life was cut tragi-
cally short last year, lived a stone's throw
away from Grant's family.
The late journalist spent decades writ-
ing advice columns, bestselling books
and articles in the Wall Street Journal on
human interest stories that often related to
one's happiness or success.
On the opening pages of Give and Take,
Grant dedicates the book "in memory of
my friend Jeff Zaslow who lived his life
as a role model for the principles in this
book"
Many readers in the business realm can
appreciate an under-appreciated truth,
often quoted by Quicken Loans founder
Dan Gilbert
"Not everything that can be counted
counts, and not everything that counts can
be counted:"
❑
Thursday, April 18, at 6 p.m. Grant will be at
the U-M campus. Register at www.centerfor
pos.org/the-centerlactivities/events.