Imagine a Culture of Generosity - Articulating Values to Guide Us

If we are to imagine a Culture of Generosity, what values might we need to guide us?

• Responsibility: We are all in this together. As such, we have personal responsibility to look out for one another. I don't mean to imply that we sacrifice self-interest, but instead that we have mutual interests that can be uncovered, if we dare to look for them and feel an obligation to engage in the exploration;

• Respect: We all have the capacity to make meaningful contributions. The concept of 'respect' manifests itself in diverse ways across cultures, and for that matter, is perceived and constructed differently by different people. Engaging in respectful behavior flows from this value...

• Transparency: We all benefit from sharing information, wisdom, and lessons learned. Rather than hoarding knowledge, we start from a desire to share it for mutual benefit and let others know of the uncertainty inherant in our sense of Knowing. There is a humility in transparency as a value...how can I truly judge what you need to know if you are as wise as I?

• Trust: We need to reliably predict our own and one another’s actions to the best of our abilities (substantive, emotional, contractual trust). In turn, this fosters a greater capacity to appreciate deeper meaning in relationships of various types, whether in the workplace, family, or community.

From these basic values we can begin to engage in conversations about generosity... what does it look like in practice? How have we experienced it? Are these values truly expressed in these stories? What other values matter?

Add your voice to the conversation...

What Is Generosity? Some "definitions of terms"

As we consider both the concepts of Generosity and the actions that seem to reflect it, we need to get clear together: What is Generosity? The new Notre Dame Center on the Science of Generosity offers this definition:
For our purposes, by generosity we mean the virtue of giving good things to others freely and abundantly.

•Generosity thus conceived is a learned character trait that involves both attitude and action—entailing as a virtue both an inclination or predilection to give liberally and an actual practice of giving liberally.

•Generosity is therefore not a random idea or haphazard behavior but rather, in its mature form, a basic, personal, moral orientation to life. Furthermore, in a world of moral contrasts, generosity entails not only the moral good expressed but also many vices rejected (selfishness, greed, fear, meanness).

•Generosity also involves giving to others not simply anything in abundance but rather giving those things that are good for others. Generosity always intends to enhance the true wellbeing of those to whom it gives.

•What exactly generosity gives can be various things: money, possessions, time, attention, aid, encouragement, emotional availability, and more.

•Generosity, to be clear, is not identical to pure altruism, since people can be authentically generous in part for reasons that serve their own interests as well as those of others. Indeed, insofar as generosity is a virtue, to practice it for the good of others also necessarily means that doing so achieves one’s own true, long–term good as well.

•And so generosity, like all of the virtues, is in people's genuine enlightened self-interest to learn and practice.

In our conversations, we've considered various definitional axes by contrasting terms:

What is the Antonym of Generosity?

TAKING ---------------------------------------------------- GIVING

SCARCITY ------------------------------------------------ ABUNDANCE

SELF-ABSORPTION ------------------------- SERVICE TO A GREATER GOOD

COMPETING ------------------------------------------- COLLABORATING



Is this helpful? What of these various definitions and purposes? Join in...

The Generosity Project - An Idea Emerging into a Story

This project is about Possibility.
It flows from a heartfelt desire to make a contribution to the World, and in so doing, for all of us to recognize and tap into our potential to make contributions far beyond our traditional expectations. All of us have different things to share, gifts of knowledge, skills, time, money... and for a variety of reasons we tend to withhold some (perhaps many?) of those gifts. We are fortunate to have these lives to live and these capacities to share, yet we tend to live in cultures that organize societies, economies and political imperatives in ways that make it more difficult to do so. It may even be seen as naive, simplistic, or otherwise counter to our best interests to act from a place of generosity in many of the places we inhabit and in many of the businesses in which we engage.
And then there is Possibility. It is the opportunity to live our lives from a 'Place of Generosity," as I like to call it. This is an attitude towards the world that emerges from abundance, rather than scarcity, from hope, rather than fear, from capacity, rather than deficit. There are many pressing issues facing us in this important period of history, and if we are to address them effectively, we must consider tapping ways of doing things that are new, innovative, and inviting us to do the impossible.
That is Possibility. That is the underlying thinking behind the Generosity Project.