Tweet

The Leadership of Giving

Guest post by: Ian Berry

Article Overview: One action that sets a leader apart from those who claim to be a leader is their giving. Real leaders give without attachment to getting back. Fake leaders just take or give with an attachment to getting back.

The Leadership of Giving

© Ian Berry All rights reserved.

One action that sets a leader apart from those who claim to be a leader is their giving. Real leaders give without attachment to getting back. Fake leaders just take or give with an attachment to getting back.

In my lifetime the takers have ruled.

• Executives have taken more salary than they deserved
• Terrorists and despots have taken the lives of the innocent
• Men have stolen from women and children through abuse and ignoring their fundamental rights
• Religious and political fundamentalists have caused chaos and war by taking their beliefs to the endth degree
• Greedy folk have raped the earth's limited resources and exploited people less fortunate than themselves
• And in the past few days bushfires (it seems started by arsonists) have claimed the lives of more than 300 people in Victoria, Australia

I could go on, however enough of the negative.

I have the famous words of Goethe at the forefront of my mind right now, If you look at a man as he is, he can only get worse. If you look at him as he could be, he can only get better.

Maybe the ongoing financial crisis has served us well by bringing about the end of the era of the taker to some degree.

According to respected social commentator Bernard Salt in an interview with Amanda Dardanis and Jorja Orreal in The Sunday Times 25th January 2009, "what's important to Australians now is sustainability, ethical behaviour, family values."

I suspect these are feelings shared by many people in many countries, not just Australia.

In all parts of the globe it seems to me, we are returning to being a society and not an economy. This is good news!

I have long said that profit is not a reason for being in business, rather a result of being good at business. The economy is also a result of what we do, not a reason for what we do.

"The secret to living is giving." says Tony Robbins

Are you a giver?

Do you give without expectation of getting back?

The world needs givers perhaps more than ever before.

One way to be a giver is to be a good citizen.

A colleague of mine and one of the great speakers on the planet, Jim Cathcart, had this to say in one of his recent newsletters:

Being a resident is measured by location, being a citizen is measured by commitment! Learn to be a good citizen in all the "communities" of your life. Neighbors who take care of their homes encourage others to do the same. Family members who do their own chores help create more responsibility at home. Coworkers who look out for you cause you to also look out for them. Citizens who obey the laws, vote in elections and do good works are a joy to be around.

How do we have more peace in the world? By being more committed to citizenship! Remember the wonderful line "let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me"? When we realize that we are dependent upon each other to behave responsibly then we are motivated to do the right thing. As more people find that their neighbors and coworkers are behaving responsibly they too will become better citizens.

What other ways can we be givers?

I would be very interested in your thoughts. Please email me or get in touch.



Be the difference you want to see in the world.

Ian

Founder Differencemakers Community

Related Articles
  What Is The Meaning Of Leadership?
  Leadership Starts With Giving: Three Secrets to Attracting More Success in Your Life by Making a Difference
  Leadership Training: Give Your Organization Firepower
  Pursuing Excellence in Leadership
  PRIDE IS AT THE BOTTOM OF LEADERSHIP:
  Content = thought leadership. Wrong.
  Eliminating the Fear of Failure
  Leadership fails without management
  The Essence of True Leadership
  LEADERSHIP IS CREATIVE THINKING NOT REACTIVE THINKING
  INVENTORIES CAN BE MANAGE BUT PEOPLE SHOULD BE LEAD.
  Succession Leadership is the Success Lynch Pin for Individuals, Businesses and Organizations
  Learning at the Frank Sinatra School of Leadership
  Achieve Sales Leadership Mastery and Grow Sales Revenue
  What is True Leadership?
  Lessons of Leadership
  Integral Leadership - A Useful Model for Leadership Development
  Economist on thought leadership - hypocritical or valid point?
  Is your leadership effective?
  The Three Conversations of Leadership: Management Leadership Training

Article Tags: giving, leadership



Related Forum Posts
Re: Business Women Peer Mentoring Spotlight - Hi Everyone, Gosh, I REALLY appreciate your concrete feedback. This was far more than I expected and I'm glad you said what you thought straight out. Each of you have shared something of value and I want to take some more time to think and really go over what each of you have said. However, I can see there are some things I need to change right away. What an interesting point about a NEW program perhaps making people think they are guinea pigs! This is NOT what I want to convey! It's funny how we can see some things so clearly in others while not always seeing it for ourselves! I must admit there are a few things I've been meaning to change (like my bio which is very outdated). Obviously, these things need to be higher on my priority list. You caught me like the plumber who puts his clients first and doesn't get around to fixing his own tap! As far as my target market, I do feel quite strongly about working with Women Leaders and doing Leadership Coaching with them. It's non-negotiable in my books. In my Executive Coaching training, the terms "Leaders" and "Executives" are interchangable. To me, an Executive is a Leader and so is the Business Woman or Entrepreneur who is CEO of her own business. I love working with decision makers! What I did learn is that I need to avoid opening up the Leadership term beyond what I described above. I'm also wondering if there is a misunderstanding with the general public as to what Leadership Coaching really is. Leadership Coaching is all about developing your leadership skills, both as a people manager and in more effectively running and growing the business. There is ALWAYS room for growth in some way. As well, sometimes, we just need a sounding board to clarify what our next BEST step is. In fact, if a woman thinks she has nothing to work on, then we aren't a good Client/Coach fit anyway. How can she grow if she doesn't see the value of expressing ALL of the great ability within her? How can her company grow if she doesn't see the value of strategic planning for the next best level? Thanks again to you all! I will go back to my website and really question whether I am conveying the right message. I got more than I bargained for in this Spotlight... you generously offered way more than I was asking. I think we could be on to something great for the Forum. Now it's time to let someone else have the spotlight. It would be great if everyone took a turn! In gratitude, Tami
Re: 3 Ways I Used Twitter To Grow My Business This Week - Hi Olivia, It seems you are working in the area of leadership area. Is Leadership = Learning? I am looking for some good books on strategy? Which one do you recommend? Thanks, Robert
Re: Quote of the Day - ?"If you want to stand out and win busine - Great post Evan, I agree 100% with GT, it's good to learn from others who have trodden the same path and found success but the time comes to branch off and discover ourselves and what we can bring to the business that others haven’t thought of. Giving extra value to a customer is a sure fire way to stand out and build your reputation as a unique service in an established market. regards, Mal.
Re: LEADERS - Nice post, i like the Doers and the listeners comments from my handbook 8.5 HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LEADERSHIP? Planning Problem Solving Vision Innovation Leadership Emotional Intelligence Delegation Communication Self-Development Relationship Building Commercial Financial skills Personal Energy Ethics Transparency Even there I see that we are missing "PASSION"
Re: SES Toronto Next Week - In that case, how about the following? Track: Get Me Up to Speed * State of Search Marketing in Canada Track: Practical & Actionable * Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions Track: Advanced * User Search Behavior * Social Media Success * Web 2.0 & Search Engines * Giving Credit Where It’s Due: Which Campaign Sold What?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

••••••>SEO Tip Of The Day: HTML Validation

Google Panda and Your Search Engine Rankings

The Future of Online Marketing

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.