Hey Alexa! Send me satin pillows to cry on.
Fear and greed, folks. It's the toughest problem we humans have. I just decided not to even get started on the Garden of Eden.
This morning, looking out on the late-autumn light on my little Vermont piece of the Garden of Eden -- and, yes, I was the one who ate those apples -- I'm bringing to mind my lifetime lifeline of people who have been generous to me.
Today, I'm picking out a couple from the world of business -- an endeavor that an influential colleague advised me largely runs on the fossil fuel of fear and greed -- but are individuals who seem to run on a source of renewable generosity.
David Covey and I were running coaching organizations with licenses to the same methodologies in different territories. Customers don't necessarily pay attention to these imaginary boundaries and would sometimes reach out from ours to his, and from his to ours. We both have seen businesses that would poach the customer, or ignore the customer. There is some cost and really no gain from redirecting the customer to the other territory. We always felt that while it may not be best business practice to redirect a customer, who may, in fact, lose interest for any of us from being presented with a hurdle, but it was our integrity.
David had a bigger view. He said, "Create abundance and share." As a result, when an out-of-territory customer showed up, we'd serve the customer, Then we sent a share of the profits to the other. It was generosity, trust, and integrity. It felt great! David, if you're reading this, it remains a powerful lesson and model for me. Fear and greed makes for mean and stingy. Create abundance and share. Wow! It shouldn't be such a revolutionary concept, but trust is not an instinctive cognitive response. Fear, greed, and suspicion are.
Desiree Gruber has modeled a complimentary view. Among her many endeavors and innovations, Desiree and her organization, Full Picture, work with people to help them identify and expand their networks. We've all heard of six-degrees of separation. Desiree thinks of it as six-degrees of connection. She has a methodology for helping people know how they are connected with others who are often invisible to them, and then, knowing the connections and multiplicity of interconnections, creating a buzzing hive of abundant sweetness. People are sharing their social capital and creating abundance. Desiree is creating compound interest on social capital. I'd argue that beats the S&P 500 any day.
This late autumn day feels like a good time to beat the F&G index. I'm selling fear and greed while it's high, and moving into the market for connection and generosity.
A few years ago, I was walking down Fifth Avenue in New York City, and a fellow walking toward me caught my attention.
"What's the greatest city in the world?"
"New York City?" I offered.
"Generosity," he responded.
"What's the greatest nation in the world?"
"Don't know." I said.
"The donation," he tendered. "You don't have to be a Rockefeller. You just have to help this fella."
I gave him five bucks. I've forgotten everything else about that day. I haven't forgotten the connection he invited.
I wish I remembered the date. I think he and I beat the S&P that day.
REFERENCED IN THIS LETTER:
ate: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56159/this-is-just-to-say
David Covey: https://www.davidmrcovey.com/
Desiree Gruber: https://www.fullpicture.com/desiree-gruber
Full Picture: https://www.linkedin.com/company/full-picture/posts/?feedView=all