Monte Wood and Dr. Nicole F. RobertsAd
When you think of the word generosity, it may elicit ideas of donating to charitable organizations, giving someone an expensive gift, or volunteering at a shelter. These are broad examples of what it means to be generous. But it goes much deeper than this, and it shows up in all areas of life, both personal and professional.
As a business leader, it’s easy to get caught up in the minutia of attaining and maintaining success, and somewhere along the way, generosity and business become muddled. Or, perhaps, it was never clearly defined to begin with.
Authors of Generosity Wins: How and Why this Game-Changing Superpower Drives Our Success Monte Wood and Dr. Nicole F. Roberts believe “generosity is a superpower,” especially when it comes to business success.
With the help of true-life insights from some of today’s top ten business and thought leaders, they guide the fictitious protagonist Emily Gardner—an aspiring executive—throughout her quest to discover the impactful role generosity plays in business.
“To have good relationships, personal, professional, etc, you have to have trust. Generosity builds trust, and trust is what builds relationships,” says Dr. Roberts.
“With our interviewees, we reached out and said ‘Here's what we're doing. We may stumble along the way because we're also trying to figure it out. Would you give us your time? Would you share your story with us? And then would you allow us to put it out into the world? And trust us to tell it the right way so that we hope millions of people will read it?’ And every one that said yes said yes because they trusted us, no questions asked,” shares Dr. Roberts.
Building trust doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but what many leaders too often forget is trust takes two people. After receiving a promotion to property manager, Emily has lost touch with herself, and in the process, tarnished relationships.
Managing a leadership role is no easy task, but Monte and Dr. Roberts are passionate believers in the cause and effect of selfless acts—a sentiment illustrated by Emily’s first stop along her journey: Mile High City, Denver Colorado, where she meets with Will Little, Senior VP at Shea Properties (Chapter 5).
“Shea has been incredibly successful, but the people I know in the company, including its owners, are extremely humble, some of the most big-hearted people you could ever meet. They’re unassuming, down-to-earth, very genuine—amazing people. They are also very generous,” Little says.
Emily’s idea of what it means to be generous revolves around a monetary value, when, in its truest form, is bigger than philanthropy or generous gifts. Little believes true generosity comes from selflessness, whether that be giving someone your time or emotional energy, it’s about intentionally nurturing your relationships.
For Little, “generosity means putting in the effort to have an impact on something larger than yourself.” Within this process, a sense of trust is built which leads to more generosity. A selfless act can create a ripple effect and extend past the giver and receiver and reach whole communities—the mission behind Wood and Dr. Roberts's book.
“The fact that we could generously accommodate each other when writing this book, listen to each other, and truly care about each other's success in the process, what happened was magical,” Wood explains. “It was so much bigger than anything either one of us had ever really expected or imagined. And in the end, we're hoping it affects a lot of people in a very positive way. And that comes from generosity.”
It’s a cause-and-effect relationship that occurs; Generosity builds trust, and the more individuals who uphold this value within an organization, the more it translates into all areas of life—a lesson Emily Gardner learns from real-life people like Will Little.
“We were entrusted with people's lives and stories, and so the entire process was built on generosity, creating trust, and creating these lasting relationships,” concludes Dr. Roberts.
Monte Wood is a business leader and founder of two industry-leading marketing agencies. He is recognized as one of Oregon’s Fastest Growing 100 companies, one of Inc. magazine’s Fastest Growing 5000 companies, and one of Oregon’s Top 50 Best Workplaces. Dr. Nicole. F. Roberts is the founder of Health & Human Rights Strategies, a healthcare and human rights advisory firm, and holds the position of a doctor of public health with a background in neuroscience.
To learn more about their book Generosity Wins, visit this link here.