Today a short post bringing awareness of a true leadership superpower available to all of us.
“I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among my people the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. There is nothing else that so kills the ambitions of a person as criticism from superiors. I never criticize anyone. I believe in giving a person the incentive to work. So I am anxious to praise but loath to find fault. If I like anything, I am hearty in my appreciation and lavish in my praise.”
~ Charles Schwab
Charles M. Schwab rose in the late 19th century to be a star executive under industrialist Andrew Carnegie, one of history’s wealthiest people. Carnegie paid Schwab a $75,000 salary with a frequent $1 million bonus, which was an astronomical sum of money for the time.
Carnegie told the author Napoleon Hill that “the yearly salary was for the work Schwab performed, but the bonus was for what Schwab, with his pleasing personality, could get others to do.”
One key caveat. Encouragement and appreciation must be praise based on true ability and achievements, given sincerely and with recognition of the true value of what is being praised.
Go out there and praise someone today!