Wharton Professor Featured In Forbes
In an article called “The Most Dynamic Social Innovation Initiatives of 2013”, Susan McPherson honors Wharton Professor Adam Grant as one of the inspiring social innovators of 2013. McPherson claims that Grant had the “Game Changing Idea” of 2013. Professor Grant’s research suggests that people who give for authentic reasons tend to be more successful than people who are less generous. His research supports the idea that companies should attempt to hire generous people and promote employee engagement in the community.
Adam Grant is the highest-rated professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He earned his Ph.D. in three years, and he is now the youngest-tenured professor at Wharton. Although he is only 31 years old, he is already one of the most well known academics in the field of organizational psychology, where he studies dynamics in the workplace. He advises companies who are trying to determine how to encourage employees to do their best work, and how to support employees so that they get the most out of their jobs.
Grant will outline his theory that people feel more fulfilled in their jobs when they have the opportunity to help others in his new book “Give and Take.” In the book, he tells a story from his undergraduate career, when he worked at a call center that helped fund student scholarships. When he brought in a student who received a scholarship to talk to call center employees about how the scholarship changed his life, the call center brought in 171 percent more revenue in the subsequent month.
In several studies of altruism as motivation, Grant has seen the same pattern over and over. When doctors were reminded that washing their hands protects patients from infection, they used 45 percent more soap than doctors who were reminded that they can protect themselves from infection when they wash their hands. His lessons also applied to the corporate world. Grant told the New York Times Magazine: “In corporate America, people do sometimes feel that the work they do isn’t meaningful. And contributing to co-workers can be a substitute for that.”
