10/27/2014
The Go Giver
The Go Giver details a week in the life of Joe, a “Go-Getter” who works at the Clason-
Hill Trust Corporation. He has just lost an important client and is trying to figure out how to fix
the situation before the end of the quarter, when he could fail to reach his quota for the third
quarter in a row. Through his friend Gus (Gus is an eccentric man who works with Joe, but Joe
is unsure of what value he adds to the company), he gets in contact with a successful
businessman he has heard of, named Pindar, in the hopes of getting some help with closing his
client. He is surprised when he agrees to meet with him the next morning (Saturday) to give him
his “trade secret.”
On his first meeting, Joe is impressed by Pindar’s sincerity, confidence, and kindness.
He meets with Pindar at his house and they converse over coffee, made by Rachel. (Rachel
works for Pindar and is a world-class coffee connoisseur.) He agrees to share his trade secret
over five days in the form of five laws of stratospheric success, under the condition that he apply
each law to his life the night after he learns it. Joe agrees, and they plan to meet again on
Monday during the lunch hour.
On Monday, they meet for lunch at Iafrate’s Italian-American Café. Pindar introduces
him to Ernesto, the chef and owner of the restaurant, and also a real-estate magnate. Ernesto
got his start in a hot dog cart and gained a reputation through his genuinely caring customer
service. A group of executives (including Pindar and a mysterious man known as “The
Connector”) notice him and finance him. Ernesto goes on to tell him the first law: “Your true
worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.” Joe later
applies this law at work by referring his client to a competitor after he realizes he lost their
business.
On Tuesday, Joe and Pindar meet with the CEO of Learning Systems for Children Inc.
Nicole was a grade school teacher who knew she was in a noble profession, but desired to
reach more people. She came up with a learning software system and started a unique and
creative company around it that markets and distributes the software to as many schools and
teachers as possible. She tells him the second law: “Your income is determined by how many
people you serve and how well you serve them.” Rachel gifts him a pound of coffee on his way
out and Joe embodies the second value by spending his afternoon personally serving coffee to
every person in his office.
On Wednesday, they meet with Sam, a wealthy philanthropist who is a very
knowledgeable financial negotiator in the insurance industry. He told his story of how he was a
struggling insurance agent, but gained a reputation of being very fair-minded. He then became
