Let's have a generous spirit!

I was waiting for the lift at SMU and was struck by this message that they plaster on their lifts.

It left a deep impression on me, not so much about knowledge per se, but the fact that acquiring knowledge for the purpose of giving it away requires a generous spirit.

My last encounter will the notion of "generosity in spirit" was when I heard Prof Leonard Berry share about the Mayo Clinic when he visited Singapore recently. He said, one of the key reasons why Mayo Clinic has been so successful with their primary value of putting the needs of the first, is that of the "spirit of the Clinic" which he described as generous. In particular, he said that "generosity" is an input to service organisations success, not just an outcome, but because it wins the hearts of stakeholders - including those who perform the service for customers - and strengthens their commitment.

"Where selfishness saps the human energy from service, generosity has the opposite, positive effect." How true it is!

I am beginning to see that as I now lead a new organisation, generosity too has a significant impact. We want to be a hospital that is not just generous to our patients but in the same breath be generous to our employees as well. In so doing, we can expect our staff to be generous in their service to our patients and go the extra mile if necessary.

We are off to a great start! Let's err on the side of generosity and be gracious.