Leading with generosity
What becomes possible for other people because of the way we lead?
I have watched capable people go quiet in rooms where credit was scarce, and I have watched those same people become inventive when someone senior made a point of asking what they thought. Very little distinguished those two rooms. Often, it came down to whether the person holding formal authority was willing to use some of it to make room for someone else.
The cost of the first kind of room is easy to underestimate. Good ideas stop being offered. People calibrate their contributions to what will be noticed rather than what is needed. Nothing appears obviously broken, yet the organization gradually becomes less than the sum of its people, often without anyone able to say when that began.
To lead with generosity is not simply to be kind, accommodating, or charitable. It is to approach leadership as a form of stewardship: to use time, attention, knowledge, and authority in ways that create conditions for others to contribute and grow. Nor does it require a formal role. A colleague who makes room for another voice, a supervisor who develops someone’s capacity, or a leader who shares authority rather than protecting it is leading generously.
None of this is easy. It asks for attention when time is scarce, candor when a conversation would be easier to avoid, and a willingness to share power when holding it would be simpler. Generosity without accountability or discernment is not enough, either. It also requires clarity, responsibility, and respect for the agency of others.
Leading with generosity, then, is less a technique than an orientation—a way of working that begins by asking what we have to contribute, and how we might use it to help others do their best work.