The Gift We Love to Receive but Forget to Give

LinkedIn:

When you ask people around the world what they value most, one answer consistently rises to the top. It’s giving to the people who matter to us. We want to help others and contribute to our communities. But if you look at how we spend our time, we fail to live up to these values. I’d love to volunteer more, but I don’t have the free time. I’d donate more to charity, if only I had the money. If it didn’t require such a sacrifice, we’d all give more.

Yet there’s one form of giving that involves few costs, while offering offers dramatic benefits to the people around us. It’s the single best way to help someone fall in love, and the most common way that people find a job. It’s also the reason that the Beatles and the iPhone came to exist.

It’s an introduction. It takes just a few minutes to connect two people who might benefit from knowing each other, and the results sometimes change the world. The Beatles came about after a member of John Lennon’s early band, The Quarrymen, introduced a 15-year-old classmate named Paul McCartney to Lennon. Apple was born after a friend told Steve Wozniak, “you should meet Steve Jobs, because he likes electronics and he also plays pranks,” and introduced them. Studies suggest that in the U.S., 45% of people find their jobs through other people, and 61% of people meet their spouses through introductions—most marriages are the result of the everyday generosity of friends, family members, coworkers, classmates, and neighbors.

Read the whole story: LinkedIn