Giving Back: Investing In Others

We believe giving is about investing. Investing is a long-term process of giving. When leaders are asked to describe a person who impacted them in their early lives, they describe a person that invested in them. They name the person that served them, shaped them or deposited something in them that helped unlock their potential. It was giving that empowered them, influenced them, and catalyzed them into a newfound confidence or dream for the future. Giving is about investing in others.

Giving Back. Giving Forward. Giving Sideways.

There are many ways to give to others. Giving back is one way. You can also give forward. You can give sideways by resourcing a client, colleague or competitor. You can give your time, talent, expertise, knowledge, support, network, and money. The best leaders are givers because they invest in others in multiple ways.

Service Is A Form Of Giving

At Leadership Alive, Inc.^® giving is central to who we are as a company. If giving is a form of investing, then service is a form of giving. The world of leadership needs more givers. We call these givers “Servant-Leaders” because they are ambitious for the success of the mission or cause they signed up for and ambitious for the success of others on their team. They are ambidextrous and the kind our world needs. They are leaders who want things for people and not just from people.

Service Is An Investment Contribution

When leaders serve others in the workplace and help others with legitimate needs (not wants) that arise, trust is generated. When we share encouragement, entrust others with information, convey respect, stop and listen, provide development opportunities, offer honest feedback, etc., tangible deposits are made into people. Serving others is a short-term contribution toward the fulfillment of that investment.

There are many ways to give to others. Giving back is one way. You can also give forward. You can give sideways by resourcing a client, colleague or competitor. You can give you time, talent, expertise, support, knowledge, network and money. — Christopher Meade, PhD

Giving Reminds Us Of Who We Are

Giving helps us remember what’s really important in life. The Coveyism, “Starting with the end in mind” is considered strategic thinking and wise. When taking a long-term look at life, it’s important to remember what stays and what goes with us. The metric and scorecard of life most often celebrated at funerals is not possessions, awards, resumes or financial profits, but the effect upon people. The investment. The deposits. The service. What they did for others. Friends and acquaintances often describe those special memories where their two lives intersected: giving and receiving from each other.

One of our core values at Leadership Alive, Inc.^® is to Live The Kind Of Life We Recommend To Others. We believe that servant leaders deliver results and care about people.

Adding Value Is The Goal Of Business

Giving and “giving back” is fundamental to who we are as an organization. We believe the goal of business is not just financial profits but adding value to people’s lives in what we provide, how we provide it, why we provide it and how we finish what we start. We look for opportunities to give back (invest) to under-resourced leaders, emerging, high-potential younger leaders and to those organizations that support this cause and focus. Although we can’t help everyone, we won’t let that stop us in helping resource some.

Giving Is Part Of Investing

When you plant a seedling in your backyard you do so with the hope that it will one day be a tree that stands tall, strong and beautiful. You envision a tree that yields fruit, provides shade and is able to even reproduce itself in the right season. At Leadership Alive, Inc.^® we too, invest in leadership seedlings. Whether the garden is Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland or San Francisco, we invest in leaders and organizations that champion and live the cause of responsible, others-centered leadership.

Helping Others In The Leadership Journey

There are many kinds of soils in a garden. Not all soils have the same nutrients in them but need those essential nutrients in order to be healthy, alive and to reach their full potential. Some soils have economic limitations, physical constraints, emotional hindrances, intellectual gaps, mental impediments, team dysfunctions, self-confidence deficiencies, skill or competence shortages, and disadvantaged starting points. There are also some soils that have all the right components and even set up with an advantage, but the one thing they all need is water and sunshine if they are to thrive. At leadership Alive, Inc.^® we want to be water to others. Water helps along the process of becoming. We want to be able to resource and “help along” other leaders and those organizations that support leaders in the transformational leadership journey. Listed below are the “gardens and seedlings” we’ve chosen to invest in and give back to:

Cities We Invest In (Soils):

• Portland

• Seattle

• San Francisco

• Phoenix

• San Jose

• Los Angeles

• Salt Lake City

• Denver

• Sacramento

• Boise

• Las Vegas

• San Jose

• Dallas

• Houston

• Austin

People & Organizations We Give To (Seedlings) :

1. High-Potential, Under-Resourced Leaders
2. Students And Emerging Younger Leaders
3. NonProfit Organizations That Align With Our Passion And Focus

Some of our investment (giving back, forward and sideways) is to organizations and causes that align with ours. Giving back is not just a responsibility that we acknowledge and accept, but it is our privilege. Giving to others makes us more fully human and alive as we share and shoulder the leadership journey together. That’s why we believe that leadership is alive!