Magma has forced its way north through an Icelandic glacier, causing a fissure eruption, in which lava flows out from many weak cracks in the surface. (SOURCE: Getty Images)

The Big Idea Series /

Generosity Burnout

Beat Generosity Burnout

Selflessness at work leads to exhaustion — and often hurts the very people you want to help. Here’s how to share your time and expertise more effectively.

by

Adam Grant

and

Reb Rebele

by

Adam Grant

and

Reb Rebele

January 23, 2017 · Long read

01

Beat Generosity Burnout

02

Leaders Who Get How to Give

03

How and When Selflessness at Work Backfires

04

Assessment: Generosity Burnout — Are You at Risk?

05

Managing Collaborative Overload

06

More on Being Generous Without Being a Doormat

When the leaders of the world dispense advice to the next generation, they tend to emphasize the same message: Help others. That was a key theme in almost two-thirds of the talks in a study of graduation speeches at U.S. universities.

Next In

Leaders Who Get How to Give

Listen to “audio postcards” from executives interviewed by HBR senior editor Curt Nickisch. They share how they’ve learned to help others without hurting themselves.

Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton and the author of Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know (Viking, 2021).
Reb Rebele is a researcher for Wharton People Analytics and teaches in the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania.