Generosity in Business

I have come to realise that above all, generosity at work, is the best way to success.  By ‘generosity’, I refer to generosity in all its forms: sharing your time, skills, resources, wealth and even your relationships/ contacts.

Being generous demonstrates that you are secure and fruitful; imagine the opposite- someone who does not share what they know, or ‘plays their card close to their chest’- the only word that comes to mind is ‘death’ because you’re not allowing room for relationships or knowledge to be shared or to grow; rather you are stifling it.

This blog talks about generosity in it’s most authentic form- rooted in a steady and robust sense of self and genuine spirit of openness and kindness. See related blogs that talk more about inter-related areas of professional integrity and delegation skills.

Seven reasons why being generous pays

Generosity makes you amenable to your colleagues- this cultivates your workplace relationships- and relationships are key to any business.

Generosity is an attractive skill and says something intrinsic about your understanding of relationships and how to cultivate them. This is a key skill that cannot be taken for granted (but inevitably is).

A generous person will have a wide network of colleagues and friends, people are drawn to generous people because they know they can always be of help (including simply lending a listening ear) or are likely to know someone who can help.

A generous person is never ‘stuck’ for long- people are likely to go the extra mile to help you out as ‘like attracts like’. Another way to put this is that doors are more readily open for you; in effect a generous person is more likely to be most effective at achieving their work objectives (productive).

Generosity creates relationships based on respect and kindness and if you are respected, people will always be interested in what you do. And if someone needs your services, your name is likely to come up top of the list.

There will be a fertile air about a generous person- things seem to happen around them; there will be a buzz around them- the advantage of attracting ‘like’ people means you will be surrounded by stimulating ideas, opinions, conversations and so you always have something that bit more to offer.

A generous person adds an extra ‘something’ to the mix; the cumulative advantages of their technical and social skills, relationships, ideas and spirit makes for the ‘x’ factor- perhaps you can’t put your finger on it but you miss their presence when they’re not there.

Let me know what you think; how has someone else’s generosity impacted on you?