Guy Kawasaki’s book Enchantment is brilliant and yes… enchanting… for its practical yet insightful content. In his chapter on trustworthiness he discusses Bakers and Eaters. He describes eaters as people who want a bigger slice of an existing pie, while bakers want to make a bigger pie. With eaters it is always a win or lose game; somebody is going to get more of the pie. Bakers believe everyone can win with a bigger pie. They enjoy the benefits of the bigger slice and don’t get hung up on the perfect split.
This completely connects with my experience and I do everything I can to stay away from the eaters. You can recognize them because they try and conceal intent, think they can “outsmart the other party” with clever or cute negotiating techniques, and mostly think they’re of superior intelligence. Their effort is always to take more than the “other side.” Bakers try to really understand what everyone one wants and tries extra hard to expand the size of what might be available. This is the essence of comparing abundant versus scarcity people. Bakers are fun and trustworthy because they declare what they want to achieve and actively work with others to do the same. The mind set and focus is on growing and sharing versus protecting and taking.
This does not imply we shouldn’t be shrewd and good negotiators but “shrewd” does not equate to “screwed,” ourselves OR others. Stay away from anyone who brags about “putting one over on someone”…you’ll likely be on that list one day too.
Character Move: How much are you and I eaters versus bakers? Are we surrounded more by bakers or eaters? What action can we take to surround ourselves with bakers?
Bake in the Triangle,
Lorne