“Generous” is a broad term. Many of my posts have touched on generosity one way or another. But today I want to encourage you to help others succeed professionally, even if it never benefits you.
Use LinkedIn With a Generous Spirit
If you’re on LinkedIn, you’ll find several ways to help others, starting with being open to connecting with people you don’t know. When I first joined, I believed strongly that LinkedIn wasn’t a place to accept connection requests from strangers. There are articles that advise just that. Then I received connection requests from two young women who had graduated from my alma mater and wanted to talk to me about my career. After they explained why they wanted to connect, I decided to accept their requests. Because the women lived near me, I could talk with each of them face-to-face. When the first woman contacted me, I questioned my ability to help. But both seemed to appreciate the connection and the chance to talk about their career ambitions. I still don’t accept every request, but now I’m open to connecting with strangers if I can genuinely help them.
You can also help others through recommendations. Of course, it’s great to respond positively to direct requests for recommendations, assuming you feel the person who approaches you is worth recommending. But if I like someone’s work, I won’t necessarily wait for them to ask me to write a recommendation. I’ll just write one, which they can accept, reject, or ask me to edit. If you’re connected to someone on LinkedIn, a recommendation can be a wonderful gift of appreciation.
Leave Positive Reviews
This year we had to call a repair person to look at our washing machine. He declared it dead (or, rather, not worth the expense of fixing) and recommended certain brands to replace it. He also told me to check out professional reviews, such as Consumer Reports, rather than relying solely on review sites. “People are more likely to leave negative reviews than positive ones,” he said. He’s right. There are times where I’ve had a particularly bad experience with a business or product and felt motivated to write a negative review. While I do leave positive reviews, I think I’m less likely to take the trouble to do so. In fact, I’m ashamed to say that the repair person’s business card is sitting in a pile, waiting for me to go online and recommend him!
We don’t need to forego all negative reviews. I think there’s a time for that. But it would be great if we left at least as many positive reviews as negative ones — if not more. Especially for small businesspeople, such reviews can be gold. If you love something — the way the stylist cuts your hair or the food at that little restaurant you’ve been going to for years or the new podcast you just discovered — give it a positive rating. We base so many of our choices on ratings these days; let’s help the people we appreciate get more business by giving them positive reviews.
Say a Good Word to Someone’s Manager
This is something I think about doing from time to time, and I always lose my nerve. A good part of it is that I imagine myself as the person behind the counter and think that the words “Can I see your manager” would probably sound like the prelude to a complaint. I don’t want to make the person panic, so I don’t say anything at all. But if we made a practice of asking for the manager to share kind words about someone, maybe people wouldn’t assume the worst when we asked to see their supervisor. And I’m sure managers must get tired of always being summoned for complaints. Hearing compliments about employees could very well brighten a manager’s day, too.
Offer People Opportunities to Build Their Credentials
Many years ago, I sat in a meeting in which people discussed two different speakers for a nonprofit conference: a man and a woman. The people who had heard them both speak felt they were equally good speakers, but the man had more speaking experience. Eventually, the people in the meeting decided to offer the speaking opportunity to the man because of his experience.
There’s no denying that name recognition is a big deal, so if you can afford the person with more credentials, it makes sense to offer that person the opportunity. But at least some of the time, I think it can be appropriate to pick the less experienced of two people with equal abilities, if only to give them the opportunity to grow their career. This is particularly true when you can add diverse voices to an event or a team. If we don’t give opportunities to capable people with less experience, we’re holding them back… and we’re missing out on what they could contribute if only they were allowed to do so.
It’s Okay to Ask for Help
There are reasons experts warn people away from self-centered networking: real relationships aren’t about using people. That’s why I believe in giving without expectations. That doesn’t mean you can’t ask for what you need to achieve your career goals. I’ve asked people for LinkedIn recommendations, and I’ve asked people to review my book. But when I do things for others, I don’t want them to feel that what I’ve done for them is part of a transaction. If I choose to write a LinkedIn review for someone, I don’t want that person to feel beholden to pay me back with a review. My review of their work isn’t about getting something back. It’s about offering help to that person. If we want to make the world a better place, we can make a real difference through little things, like generously helping others to grow their careers.