Within my eclectic experiences, whether in school, in work, or in my personal life, all leaders seem to possess one trait that distinguishes them from their followers, colleagues, and acquaintances.
Generosity. That’s the trait. Simple, right? Very simple indeed.
However, the way in which leaders practice their generosity separates them from others. Leaders are generous with their time, efforts, and network. These three aspects of their generosity allow them to thrive, support others, and elevate their own missions. Let’s dive a little deeper.
Leaders are generous with their time. Whether they offer their time to the community, business boards, or phone calls with aspiring young professionals, they gladly share their time as a way of serving others and adding value to the world around them. Don’t get me wrong – leaders don’t offer their time at the expense of their own responsibilities and vision. However, leaders typically allocate their time effectively and manage their days efficiently, which allows them to expend additional time to assist their community, other businesses, and potential mentees.
Leaders are generous with their efforts. As an extension of their time, leaders appropriate their efforts within the time slots they provide to followers, colleagues, and acquaintances. When leaders commit their time to the community, or offer 15 minutes to discuss career insights with an aspiring young professional, they provide their undivided attention, tailored actions, and consequent follow-up to ensure productive and meaningful outcomes. Time is the foundation that underpins the efforts responsible for building and finishing the respective masterpiece.
Leaders are generous with their network. Over their careers, leaders develop a network comprised of influencers, followers, and close associates. When leaders find an opportunity to add value through connecting different elements in their network, they take the initiative to facilitate mutually beneficial interactions for relevant parties. They understand the value of one’s network, and they will typically offer a piece of their network if it will benefit themselves, their respective networks, or the recipient of the network connection (so long as the recipient provides a value-add to the leader’s network). If time is the foundation and effort is the masterpiece itself, a leader’s network represents the number of people who view, discuss, and receive value from the masterpiece.
Leaders are generous with their time, efforts, and network. They effectively establish a virtuous cycle of generosity that helps their leadership, their connections, and relevant external parties (i.e. communities, business boards, and external audiences). As leaders become more generous, they will elevate their mission, influence their followers more profoundly, and shape the overarching world more positively.
In fact, some element of external generosity probably pivoted the lives of today’s leaders, who seek to reciprocate that generosity for their followers, network, and extended audience. Reciprocity is a powerful force – as leaders continue to practice reciprocity and engage their virtuous cycles of generosity, they influence their community and network to follow suit and continue the generosity. This is one of many ways in which leaders provide a rising tide that raises all boats. Through their multifaceted generosity, leaders provide continued value to all people with whom they interact.
Obviously, generosity is not the only common trait that effective leaders share. Equally obviously, different leaders possess different traits and skill sets tailored to their corresponding networks and audiences. However, I urge you to think about the leaders in your life. Reflect on their generosity, particularly in their time, efforts, and network. Identify how their generosity has impacted you, and whether or not you have returned the favor by paying it forward to others.
And if you want to go one step further, identify how these leaders are generous in other ways. Maybe they’re additionally generous with their money. Or their insights. Or their presence. Many of these elements of generosity are interconnected, which is precisely why leaders can blend their generosity with their other leadership traits … because leaders are masters of connecting their vision and behaviors with their impact on others.
Please leave a comment on other leadership traits you’d like to read more about! Or, if you have any reflections on generosity, I’d love to read them! And if you’re a leader yourself, let me know how you view generosity and how you implement it in your daily interactions. Looking forward to interacting with you all!
