One of the best gifts I get for Christmas comes every year after December 25. It's the gift of a week unlike any other, when the usual routine is interrupted and it seems permissible to wait before starting new projects. I love this week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas along with the sense of a new beginning that comes with the arrival of January 1. But there's something about this week in the middle that allows for a slower pac

Dan Rockwell writes a blog that I read most days called Leadership Freak. Here's a short story he wrote about generosity which he generously gave me permission to share this with you. "I cashed my wife's $48 check and determined to give it away. A few days later we found ourselves in line behind a young couple in a department store. She's holding a small package of diapers. He has a set of jumper cables. I said, "Those jumper cables don't look good." He said, "We're trave

"Generosity is one of the most important ways to set an example as a leader in any organization." I think about creativity a lot but I only recently connected it to generosity. Creativity depends on ideas and seldom does anyone have great ideas without input from others. Before you object too strenuously and remind me of some idiosyncratic genius, keep in mind that each of these people built on the work of someone else, even if they produced art or ideas that seemed novel.

"If you're scared, if you're nervous, if you think you're a fraud, you won't be generous." I recently read an interview about leadership, confidence and generosity. I don't know that I've ever used those three words in the same sentence before. I will from now on though. In the interview, Susan Credle, chief creative officer with global advertising firm FCB, described her "first day" speech with a new company. On that first day she said: "You are not competing with each o