Perhaps the simplest, most powerful moral question you can ask of your life is: 'Am I a net giver, or a net taker?'
As head of TED for the past 20 years, Chris Anderson has had a ringside view of the world's most significant thinkers sharing their boldest ideas across every imaginable discipline. Yet there's a single theme that stands out in his mind as the essential connecting thread: generosity.
It may seem simple, but generosity has played a key role in building the tools, knowledge, and institutions that have allowed civilisation to flourish. Now, in our unsettled modern world, beset by disruption and division, Anderson believes our collective future depends on reconnecting to this vital human trait.
In this profound and inspiring book, Anderson shows how the same technologies that have been a catalyst for negativity can be turned into an exponential force for good - to create chain reactions of generous behaviour. The potential lies in every one of us, right now - for generosity, it turns out, is wired deeply inside you. Gifts of time, talent, connection and kindness have always been part of what it is to be a good human. What's different today, Anderson reveals, is the power each of us has - if we'd only stop to think about it - to catalyse world-changing, self-replicating impact.
The people, companies, investors and organisations who understand this, who prioritise generosity - who give more to the world than they take from it - are the ones that will own the future. And they'll be happier as a result.
This book shows you how.