The Power of Generosity

True and purposeful generosity makes you strong.

When actors are improvising together, it is a true collaboration. The best scenes occur when each actor is generously creating situations for the other actor to do something that fits perfectly in their sweet spot. Scenes where both actors are building each other up -making each other look "good" - are a joy to perform and a joy for the audience to watch. Those scenes are a success.

That seems counterintuitive to a lot of people. A lot of people think that success involves climbing to the top through any means possible. A lot of people think the only way to do this is to make others look "bad".

Those folks see others in the same field or business as "competition" and cannot understand why anyone would go out of their way to make the competition look good.

To those people I'd kindly and respectfully ask, "How is that working for you? Do you really want to live there?"

I know I'd rather live in a place of generosity. I'd rather live in a place of abundance where the success of my colleague, neighbor or peer is only an reminder that such success is possible and a similar success can be mine.

In the improv of life, we gain confidence, strength and power from this purposeful generosity.

In the improv of life, when you live in purposeful generosity, you are living in a powerful world of abundance and possibility rather than a world of limits and "not enough to go around".

Please understand:

I'M NOT SUGGESTING YOU SAY "YES" TO EVERY REQUEST OF YOUR TIME, MONEY OR TALENTS. 

I'm suggesting you practice continual, purposeful generosity and collaboration. I'm suggesting you take your precious time and if you are going to talk about others you do so to build them up for their "wins" rather than tear them down for their weaknesses.

I'm suggesting you delight in the success of others and if you can play a small part in that success with your purposeful generosity then you should do so.

What does purposeful generosity look like in the improv of life?

It looks like taking a few extra seconds to type a positive comment rather than just "liking" or retweeting in social media.

It looks like sitting down to coffee with someone who you genuinely like and sharing your knowledge or expertise.

It looks like teaching a new skill to someone who you genuinely like.

It looks like sharing a job posting, or an interesting article to someone who you think could genuinely use the information.

It looks like making time in your schedule for those who report directly to you by scheduling weekly one-to-ones. During these, make sure you take notes and follow up on what you promise to do.

It looks like taking the time to find out where your direct reports or volunteers feel they are most in their flow and finding opportunities to place them there.

It looks like publicly congratulating a colleague or peer for their successes.

It looks like sharing your "finds" and connecting talented people with one another.

It looks like being honest and saying "no" when you don't have the bandwidth to give anything but 100% on something.

What would you add to this list?

5 Ways to Find Your Power

Glinda the good witch said it to Dorothy,

"You've always had the power . . ." 

The Scarecrow was indignant that Glinda didn't tell our friend, Dot, in the first place about this power.

But, Glinda, the wise, knew that Dottie had to figure that out for HERSELF!

We all have to figure it out for ourselves and learn to use our power (for good, not evil, please!)

On those days when we feel quite powerLESS it is important to take a moment and remember how to USE OUR POWER!



1. PAST PERFORMANCE
Take a minute to breathe and remember all the times you felt powerful and in control in the past. You can feel that way again, and reliving those good moments in your head can balance out any negative self-talk. If it helps, you might want to WRITE those positive moments on a sticky note and keep it handy!

2. DO THE RESEARCH
Sometimes the people who seem to wield/hold power over us are really clueless! They've found themselves in a new leadership position and are really just making stuff up as they go along! This is where Google comes in super handy. Just do a tiny bit of research and find out if that person has ever held that leadership position before. You might actually find yourself feeling compassion for the person who you (thought) was controlling you.

3. THINK BIGGER
We've all heard that old saw, "Big fish in a small pond". Right? If you're in a small pond, and there's a big fish crapping in the water, try moving away from the pond. It's amazing how leaving a toxic situation can give you more perspective. YES, it IS scary to leave. But, if you're feeling miserable and powerless then it is time to expand your territory and/or move to a bigger pond! Sometimes just moving to a different department will make all the difference!

4. WALK IT OUT
Studies have proven what I've known for years: WALKING IMPROVES CREATIVITY! And, in my humble opinion, a creative mind is a POWERFUL MIND. It was during a period of time when I took all my work breaks outside, walking around my office building whenever I felt powerless and bullied by my boss when I actually felt my most creative and powerful! (And, I'm happy to report that I outlasted that awful boss!)

5. LEARN TO MANAGE YOUR MONEY
This isn't as left-field as it seems. Think about it, how many of you, dear readers, have ever said, "If I just had enough money I would fill-in-the-blank"?? Often, those "blanks" are situations that are holding you back. Often, we feel powerless or STUCK in a situation because we have genuine monetary obligations. If you feel like lack of funds is contributing to your feelings of powerless-ness then learning and applying solid money management principles will help you take charge. (Trust me on this. I used to be so deeply in debt that I couldn't even imagine a way out.)

One word of warning: gambling, pyramid schemes and other get-rich-schemes will not get you out of a financial hole, it will get you in even deeper. So, if a financial plan seems too good to be true, it IS. Run away!

I'd love to hear YOUR tips on how you find your power on those days when you feel like you've lost it!

Power

How often do we believe we are powerLESS when, really, we are just on a necessary journey and need to do the work, go through the steps, get the witch's broom before we APPRECIATE the reward.

Think about it, Dorothy wouldn't have appreciated home if she hadn't gone through her adventures. If she hadn't FOUGHT for what she wanted. If Glinda had sent her back in the first five technicolor minutes then Dot wouldn't have learned that she could do anything, even melt a witch.

So, before you think you are powerless, try taking a step back and realize that you are on a journey TO power!

Is there a Creativity Gap?

Ahhh, just this HEADLINE breaks my creative little heart: Study Reveals Global Creativity Gap. I think it is time for corporations to wake up. I think it is time for employees to wake up and just do it! Be creative. Take back your power! If you cannot be creative at work, then express it outside of work and see if that can allow you to find NEW work that is creative. (There is a reason I don't work for a large corporation anymore!)

It has been my experience working in a couple of large corporations that there is a disconnect between what the C-level and VP-level SAY they want and what they encourage, endorse and green-light. They SAY they want their company to be innovative and on the cutting edge but anything that hasn't been proven, tested or tried is usually ignored -or worse, scorned. If something truly innovative gets pushed through, then the temptation is to re-hash the same thing over and over until the creativity is wrung out of it . . . The trick, then is to keep working to innovate new ideas.

Here is a tidbit from this article:

"The research shows 8 in 10 people feel that unlocking creativity is critical to economic growth and nearly two-thirds of respondents feel creativity is valuable to society, yet a striking minority – only 1 in 4 people – believe they are living up to their own creative potential."

From what I experienced (and this is only me, mind you, it might be different where you work) upper management usually puts people in neat little "boxes". They have their "creatives", their "crazy creatives" and their "non-creatives".  Usually those upper-level types see, and treat, themselves, Directors and maybe a manager or two as "creative" and full of brilliant ideas.

They see their artists, designers and writers as "crazy creatives" and treat them like you would an impulsive child, not to be trusted with sharp objects.

Hourly employees, those in the trenches, often dealing directly with customers and clients are typically seen as "non-creative" and are treated as such.

I once saw 2 VPs allow another bully VP bash an idea that came from a group of people it was obvious these veeps considered to be non-creative worker bees. These hourly employees came up with a genius idea -a cost-saving idea that was very customer focused. It was brilliant. The VP bashing was brutal, the 2 other VPs in the room, by their very silence, condoned what their bully peer was doing. The idea died on the vine and the employees who'd put their necks out got them neatly chopped off. (Literally, one of those employees was laid of shortly thereafter -two more found new jobs within the year.)

(The end of this tale is:  a few years later, a Diretor-level type proposed the very same idea and it was green-lit and was very successful.) I'd say if you'd asked those employees with the original idea, they would say they didn't feel like they were living up to their creative potential at work -at that point in time. I certainly hope they have positioned themselves where they are able to live up to their potential.

I'd say that if you agree with this statement from the article (below) that you might want to think of creative ways to find a new workplace:

"The study reveals a workplace creativity gap, where 75% of respondents said they are under growing pressure to be productive rather than creative, despite the fact that they are increasingly expected to think creatively on the job. "

How does your workplace do?  Is creativity from EVERYONE encouraged? Or discouraged?