No one has ever become poor by giving.
— Anne Frank
The best leaders are certainly visionary, strategic, competent, and inspiring. Great leaders, however, have something else going for them. They’re generous!
They willingly give their time, listen carefully, share information, and help us connect our work to something bigger. They praise, encourage, coach, and mentor. When it really counts, they speak the truth with courage, confidence, compassion, and care.
When we hear “generosity,” our first thoughts often involve money. It’s so much more that. Generosity is about how we show up.
While being generous benefits everyone, it’s a force multiplier for founders, executives, and communicators.
What Goes Around Comes Around
The Virtues Project describes generosity as “giving to others something that is of value to us. Generosity is the quality of spirit that calls us to share what we have.” The Generosity virtue card reminds us that we don’t give just for the benefit of others. We give to grow our own soul. Generosity draws out what’s noble in us.
Virtues are the essence of who we are. They’re described in the world’s sacred traditions as the qualities of the Divine and the attributes of the human spirit. They’re the content of our character and the basis of genuine happiness.
The mission of The Virtues ProjectTM is to inspire the practice of virtues in everyday life by helping people of all cultures to discover the transformative power of these universal gifts of character. The virtues are spiritual life-skills that help us to live our best lives. As a Bahá’í, I also work to acquire these divine qualities because I believe I’ll need them in the life to come.
Generosity Creates a Ripple Effect
The rock never sees where the ripples go.
— Shane Jackson, President of Jackson Healthcare and bestselling author of This is the Thing.
We’ve all felt it. You receive a thoughtful note, or someone pauses their day to help you. Suddenly, you want to pay it forward. Turns out, this ripple effect is real.
A study by Chancellor, Margolis, Bao, and Lyubomirsky invited employees at a Spanish company to complete five acts of kindness for coworkers over four weeks. Givers and receivers both experienced increased well-being, job satisfaction, and reduced symptoms of depression. Even more striking: receivers paid it forward with 278% more generous acts than those in the control group.
Generosity is contagious. Additionally, it not only lifts others; it fuels emotional resilience in the giver.
Another study published in Nature Communications found that being generous really does make you happier. Additionally, even the intention to be generous, before a single action is taken, lights up the brain’s altruism and happiness centers. That means simply planning to give (even in small ways) makes us more likely to act and feel good about it.
Generosity Takes Many Forms
The world often tells us that generosity is tied to wealth. But the most powerful forms of generosity can’t be measured in dollars, euros or yen.
- Time: Coaching someone who’s finding their way.
- Praise: Reinforcing what’s working and building confidence.
- Feedback: Helping your team get better, not just feel better.
- Kindness: Sharing a word of encouragement or compassion, not knowing how much someone may need it.
When we give generously in these ways, we spark joy in others as well as within ourselves.
When Generosity is Public, It Becomes Magnetic
Generosity isn’t just powerful in private. It’s even more influential when witnessed by others. Imagine a public version of the Ultimatum Game. The proposer gives more than their fair share, not just 50%, but 70%! Observers see the proposer demonstrate confidence, integrity, and abundance. They see someone they’d want to play with next.
In leadership, most every choice is public in some way. How you give credit, share resources, or support your team becomes part of your reputation. Generosity shown in the open builds trust faster, sets a higher bar for fairness, and inspires others to rise to it. When people see you lead with a generous heart, they not only respect you… they follow you, want to work with you, and be on your team.
Generosity Drives Performance
It turns out generosity is good for both morale and business. A 2021 SSRN study of 300 employees found that workplace generosity correlated with:
- Higher employee well-being.
- Greater organizational commitment.
- Better job performance.
In a real-world example, Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder of Chobani, the upstart Greek yogurt maker valued at as much as $5 billion in 2016, decided to give 10% of the company to its employees.
Why? Because employee-owned companies, even those with workers holding only a minority stake, tend to out-perform the competition. Today, the privately held company is valued between $7 and $10 billion.
Another example: In 2015, Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments, decided to cut his own salary of over $1 million to fund a minimum annual wage of $70,000 for his employees. While Mr. Price resigned in August 2022 due to legal troubles, he maintained that his decision to increase employee salaries to a living wage has resulted in significant business growth.
According to one source, Gravity’s revenue has tripled since the change. Its customer base doubled and more than 70% of employees paid off their debt. Many bought homes for the first time and were finally able to save and invest money. Employee turnover dropped by half.
The lingering effect of generosity is significant across industries and even in cultures where shared responsibility is already strong. In other words, generous cultures don’t just feel better—they perform better.
The Science Behind Generosity and Trust
When you lead with fairness and generosity, people are more likely to trust you—and follow your lead.
In the Ultimatum Game, one person decides how to split a sum of money with another. If the offer is too low, the second person can reject it and both get nothing.
What the Research Shows
- Fair offers (30–50%) are the norm. Most people give more than they need to get acceptance.
- Low offers get rejected. People would rather walk away than accept something unfair.
- Generosity builds trust. Fair treatment increases cooperation, even in future interactions.
- It’s universal. Across cultures, people value fairness and respond positively to generosity.
A Personal Note: People First. Always!
When someone asks for help, especially at work, they’re often doing something difficult—admitting they need it. That’s why I stop what I’m doing and give my full attention.
The deck-of-the-day or whatever I’m working on can wait. The human in front of me often cannot.
Early in my career, I worked with a leader who made this kind of generosity impossible. She was smart but insecure and hoarded information. Critical details came late, causing fire drills and frustration.
When I couldn’t resolve it directly, I found a diplomatic way to let her leader know what I was up against. To my surprise, he welcomed my honesty. He encouraged me to come to him directly and was remarkably generous with his time. He shared context, strategy, and insight, not just for the task, but for my growth.
It changed everything for me. I’ll be forever grateful to him for his generosity.
Mentoring is a Generous Act
When mentoring someone, you invest your time, energy, and experience in their growth—with no expectation of reward. It’s a selfless gesture and a generous gift.
Over the years, I’ve mentored executives, peers, and most often, professionals early in their careers. Being careful not to overextend myself, I mentored one person at a time. More recently, driven by a desire to become the leader I would’ve loved to have met early in my career and inspired to make a bigger impact, I started mentoring multiple individuals simultaneously while still treating each relationship as unique.
Mentorship fuels growth for both mentees and mentors. It transforms aspirations, strengthens careers, and leaves a lasting impact. Some of those I’ve mentored have shared their experiences in their own words, each one a testament to the value of connection and guidance.
If you’ve never mentored someone, I highly recommend it. If you have, you know what I mean. Few experiences are as fulfilling, and few professional relationships offer as much mutual benefit. Whether you discover mentorship early or later in your journey, its rewards are both profound and personal.
To learn more, read Mentors – The Accelerators Who Ignite Your Potential.
The Communicator’s Call to Candor
For communicators, generosity includes truthfulness, even when it’s inconvenient and uncomfortable.
Candor isn’t always easy. But it’s one of the most generous gifts we can give: to our leaders, our teams, and ourselves. Done well, it prevents confusion, builds trust, and moves people forward.
So how do we practice truthfulness generously?
Develop the Habit of Candor:
- Clarify before you amplify. Ensure messages are grounded in fact and purpose.
- Ask, “What truth needs to be heard right now?” Then offer it with humility.
- Speak up early. The sooner a hard truth is voiced, the easier it is to navigate.
- Use kind candor. Say what needs to be said but wrap it in kindness and respect.
- Be discreet. Deliver constructive feedback in private.
Generosity and truth aren’t adversaries; they’re allies. Together, they make you the kind of communicator people trust.
Kim Scott created a framework called Radical Candor™, which is about caring personally while challenging directly. At its core, Radical Candor is guidance and feedback that’s both kind and clear, specific and sincere. For more, check out the video below.
Look for Opportunities to Lead with Generosity
Leading with a generous heart doesn’t mean overextending yourself. It means staying open to others and present to their needs. It means choosing abundance over fear, clarity over control, service over self-promotion.
And when motivated by a selfless spirit, generosity inspires a culture where others follow suit.
So, take a moment, ask yourself:
- Where can I be more generous with my time?
- Who needs a bit of encouragement?
- What truth, shared kindly, might make a difference?
Parting Thoughts
The world needs more generous hearts. Giving generously to your favorite charity is great. But there are so many more opportunities to be generous in this world. When you move through the world with a generous spirit, those around you feel it. It’s magnetic and inspiring.
Simple acts of generosity often cost nothing but time and a little effort. And small acts pay healthy dividends.
Let’s leave those we work with (and all those we encounter in the world around us) a little better than we found them.
Let’s Lead with Light!
Feeling generous? Share this post…
Discover more from alviller.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.