Being a generous leader is about more than just paying a suitable salary.

BY JAY STEINFELD, AUTHOR, “LEAD FROM THE CORE: THE 4 PRINCIPLES FOR PROFIT AND PROSPERITY”@JAYSTEINFELD

For INC.

Illustration:  Getty Images

I once had an associate, one of my all-time best, who was a rising star but lacked genuine empathy for his direct reports. 

It was a career blocker for him. I noticed him going through the motions of acting as if he cared, but it rang hollow and not just to me. In one of our one-to-one monthly discussions, I asked him point-blank, “Are you doing that because you want people to do what you ask, or are you doing it because you truly care?”

I believe my candor shocked him, but I’d made my point.

After that meeting, I noticed him begin to demonstrate real compassion and generosity, and many others told me they noticed too. Had we not had that conversation, it would have been unfair to him–a disservice. He later left to become the co-founder and CEO of a well-financed, ambitious startup.

There are many different kinds of generosity and many different ways to be generous with your team. A companywide pizza party is one small, obvious gift, but I like to think deeper than that and, as always, to look further down the line.

This means something generous you do for your team or an individual associate–such as encouraging them to figure out a problem on their own or not handholding when self-accountability provides the better outcome–might take some time to emerge as the truly generous act that it was. But it will emerge, and it will create more value in your relationships with your associates over time.

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