Paying it Forward
I was at the Starbucks drive-through the other day and as I was about to pay, the cashier said "The person in front of you paid for you. They are paying it forward".
Of course we passed the good fortune on to the car behind us (we were the 14th car to do so) and we felt great being a part of that experience, the feeling of spontaneously doing something good for people, knowing that when you pay it forward unselfishly, good things will likely come to you...somewhere, somehow.
I love that concept. Random acts of kindness are viral.
And yet I felt a little bad at that Starbucks. It had been a long time since I had initiated a pay it forward, something I love doing. Life seems to get away from us and the next thing you know, a lot of time has passed and plans and intentions are put on the back burner.
Investing in people can't be put on the back burner.
Every time we encourage a co-worker, every time we offer praise; when we show confidence and take a risks on our people - it's an investment. We are paying it forward. Someone invested in us. Many people invested, took risks, pulled for us, so that we could be where we are today. As leaders, our biggest motivation is the success of the people we are entrusted with.
And when we demonstrate that, with those little daily actions, we are paying it forward.
Of course we passed the good fortune on to the car behind us (we were the 14th car to do so) and we felt great being a part of that experience, the feeling of spontaneously doing something good for people, knowing that when you pay it forward unselfishly, good things will likely come to you...somewhere, somehow.
I love that concept. Random acts of kindness are viral.
And yet I felt a little bad at that Starbucks. It had been a long time since I had initiated a pay it forward, something I love doing. Life seems to get away from us and the next thing you know, a lot of time has passed and plans and intentions are put on the back burner.
Investing in people can't be put on the back burner.
Every time we encourage a co-worker, every time we offer praise; when we show confidence and take a risks on our people - it's an investment. We are paying it forward. Someone invested in us. Many people invested, took risks, pulled for us, so that we could be where we are today. As leaders, our biggest motivation is the success of the people we are entrusted with.
And when we demonstrate that, with those little daily actions, we are paying it forward.
Comments
Post a Comment